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A swell of emotion builds in my chest. I stare at him, speechless.
“I swear nothing will ever hurt you again. I’ll make sure of it.” Lucas cups my cheek. I hold my hand over his, tracing his battered knuckles. “Will you be mine, Gemma? If you can forgive me and accept me, will you let me love you the way you deserve?”
Since the first encounter with Lucas he has demanded everything of me.
Stolen firsts from me without mercy.
Held me in his control.
He took what he wanted. He tried to command my loyalty in the past.
This isn’t that.
It’s Lucas asking me. He offers his heart on a platter, if I’ll have it. I can tell if I say no, he would accept it.
“Yes.”
I gasp as his mouth covers mine in a searing kiss. The gentle tentativeness is burned away in a rush of heat that has me clawing to get closer to him. Raindrops speckle us and the thunder matches the sounds we make as our kiss becomes a storm of its own.
A phoenix soars in my body, the white-hot flames rising from the ashes of the demons that haunted me to overwrite new memories, strengthening me.
My broken heart heals in that moment as I fuse my soul to Lucas’ with a kiss.
A shiver runs down my spine as we part. I don’t know whether it’s from an epic kiss or the chilling rain.
“We should probably get out of here. You’ll get sick.” He leads me to his Range Rover, the heat of the interior a warm embrace. He helps me into the passenger seat and gets a blanket from the back to bundle me, carefully tucking the edges around my body. “Can I kidnap you for old time’s sake? I’ll keep you warm and feed you. You can hog Lancelot for companionship.”
“You’re a dork.” I shake my head, smiling.
Lucas winks and shuts the door. He stands beneath the low-hanging bough of a pine tree as he talks on his phone.
When he gets in, he reaches across to take my hand. “Community security will get your car and bring it up to my place. I’d have Dev do it, but he’s busy at the house.”
I nod as Lucas turns us around and drives up the road. I occupy myself by brushing the pads of my fingers over his knuckles. The skin doesn’t feel broken, it’s only stained by the blood of someone that tried to hurt me. This is the second time he’s taken me back after a rainy rescue mission. I squeeze his hand and flash him a smile when he returns it.
The rain begins to die down. Cars pass us on the road, coming down from Lucas’ place. As we pull in more than half are gone.
“Where’s the fire?”
“Who cares, I’m not in a party mood. Are you?”
“Not really.”
We get out and find Devlin, Alec, and Connor herding people into his SUV. Lancelot dances around their feet, barking at the commotion. When we walk up, Lancelot abandons them to circle around us, sitting on my shoes.
“Did you get it done?” Lucas asks Devlin cryptically.
“Yeah. They put up a fight, but Connor’s got blackmail on Burns that shut him up. Once we threw him and Marissa out, it ended the party.” Devlin holds up a finger. “But not to worry. I am generously opening my house to those too drunk to go home. A few other people that live here are doing the same.”
Lucas lifts his brows. “That’s unlike you.”
“You can thank me later.” Devlin shrugs and glances at me. “We didn’t want you guys to come back to a raging party.”
“Thanks,” I say.
People groan as they trudge out of the house.
Alec comes over. “Are you okay?”
