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Leaning into Cage’s chest, I bury my face in his warmth, letting the anguish run through me as I rage about the injustice. It’s not fair. It just isn’t fair.
For a long time, I wished he were dead. If Lucy wasn’t breathing, then he didn’t deserve to, either, but somehow, that anger lessened, and I wanted him to live so he could suffer behind bars. Alive but trapped. No freedoms. No life. Nothing but bars and orders.
“It’s not fair,” I seethe as his hand brushes through my unruly hair, massaging my scalp.
“What do you say we get out of here for a bit? Sit outside by the water.” I’m only capable of nodding my head. Helping me to my feet, Cage guides me outside. As soon as the fresh air hits me, I breathe a little easier. Being one with Mother Nature has always helped calm my soul in a way that nothing else has.
We walk in silence towards the docks, where lounge chairs are set up for a relaxing night by the lake. Slipping off my shoes before I sit down, I’m not surprised when Cage scoots in behind me so that I rest between his strong thighs. His arms wrap around me; one hand on my belly, the other on the V of my collarbone, and his large fingers bracketing my throat. It’s a possessive hold for anyone watching. It’s comforting for me.
“Why are you here, Cage?” I’ve wanted to ask him that from the minute I saw him, but I worried he’d think I don’t want him here.
“For you.” Such a simple answer. “For both of you.”
“You didn’t know there was a both of us,” I point out, and it’s my own words that help me realize he wanted me before he knew about the baby.
“Which makes it all the sweeter.” His lips kiss my head, and I close my eyes. I need this. Need to feel connected to someone so badly right now.
So when he says, “I did it,” I don’t know how to react. “I killed Garnett Fraser.” His words are muted as he confesses.
Sitting up, I turn to face him, a hundred emotions rolling through me at once. I don’t know which one to focus on, so I just stare at him.
Cage leans forward, his bulkiness towering over me, even as we sit down. He cups my cheek and presses our foreheads together. “I’m a fucking terrible man, pet. I kill, I hunt, I prey. Snuffing out his life wasn’t even a choice; it was a breathing entity inside of me that needed to slay the man who hurt you so.”
I open my mouth to comment, but nothing comes out.
“Do you remember telling me about him? The broken way your voice cracked when you told me he killed that girl. The way he shot through you like you were nothing. Do you remember the pain? I felt it. I embraced it, and from the minute you ran from my bed, I began my hunt.”
“Hunt?”
He nods. “My hunt to eliminate anyone who dared cause you pain.”
“I never…”
“I know.” His lips brush across mine. “I know you’d never. But the fact he was left to breathe in a world where you exist was unforgivable to me. He belonged in hell, and he should have been sent there the second he pulled the trigger.”
Closing my eyes, I breathe in this man’s scent, his masculinity, his desire for me. His overwhelming need to protect me from past and present threats. My anger drains away at the realization.
Clasping his face in my hands, I exhale against his lips, “Thank you, Cage,” before pressing into him, nipping at his bottom lip. I know he’s allowing me to take control, and I keep biting and sucking at him until he loses it. Until I get a glimpse of the Cage I met that first time.
“You bring out the beast in me, pet.” His gruff hands slip under my ass, and he drags me into his body, cradling me against his brawny frame. My legs spread across his thighs, pressing into the cushion on either side of his hips while he plunders my mouth. Teeth scraping against sensitive flesh as we each attempt to gain the upper hand. Cage wins, of course, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’ve been an independent woman my entire life; granting him this control, this power over me, is freeing.
“Cage?” I huff out when he kneads a handful of my ass in his firm palm, pulling me closer to the burgeoning bulge in his pants.
“Yeah, pet?”
“Are you staying?” He tenses as he draws back, resting his spine against the lounge chair and discerning me. There’s a longing in his gaze that I don’t understand.
“Staying.” He repeats the single word, and I chew my lip. “I was hoping you’d come home with me.”
“Where, uhm, exactly is home?” I have a feeling I know, but a man like Cage is filled with mysteries.
“South Africa.” The most beautiful country I’ve ever been to. A country that, for a time, I would have called home as well, but then my world exploded again.
“I see.” Sitting back, I put distance between us. I can’t think when he’s touching me like he owns me. Because he does. Cage owns every part of me without even trying.
“I have an isolated piece of land that you didn’t get to see last time. But it’s nice. The village isn’t too far. There’s a community center that could use a woman of your caliber.” Gazing out across the lake as a boat speeds by, pushing waves across the water, I try to picture what life would be like out there. “I wouldn’t let anything happen to you, pet.”
That’s not even close to what I’m worried about. There is so much to consider about moving to and living in Africa. “I have a life here,” I say, my argument weak, even to my own ears.
