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She was hope.
And she was made for a future.
I sat on the edge of the bed. “Hey.”
Her big dark eyes opened, fuzzy with sleep. Her soft smile cracked my chest open. Walking away from her was getting harder every day.
She reached out and cupped my cheek. “Why so intense so early?”
“Because it’s not early.”
She sat up suddenly. “What time is it?”
“Late.”
“What’s late for you? Six?”
“Try almost nine.”
“What?” She shoved the sheets aside and picked up her phone on the side table. “No way.”
I swallowed a groan as I caught sight of all the marks I’d given her last night. Bruises the size of my thumbs at her waist from where I’d gripped her and powered into her.
She’d taken every part of me without complaint. With a groan of response and acceptance. She was so damn small, but she fit me so perfectly. I slipped her hair over her shoulder to see the bite on her shoulder.
When I’d lost it in the deep dark of last night, spreading her out over me until she’d screamed. Until I’d felt her shatter again and again.
She glanced over her shoulder at me, then she covered my hand when she saw what I was looking at. “Those marks mean more to me than you know.”
I frowned.
She took my hand and settled it against her chest. “I’ve always been treated like the breakable one. Like I was too fragile to be worthy of passion. You don’t do that.”
I slid my hand up to bury my fingers in the hair at the nape of her neck. She closed her eyes in that way she had. Where it was part purr and part sigh. “You deserve gentle.”
Her eyes opened. “You are. I like both parts.” She curled her arm around me and pressed her lips to mine. “Besides, I was pretty sure you made it your mission to have me scream that skylight down last night.”
“Maybe.” I couldn’t stop the smile against her lips. “Maybe so.”
“Let me get dressed and you can drop me off at The Lodge.”
“Okay.” She slipped away and grabbed her dress from the floor. She spotted my phone and tossed it at me. “Don’t forget that.”
I caught it against my chest. “How could I?”
My email notifications were in the double digits and texts were heading the same way. I quickly replied to the easy ones and pushed off a few of the distribution ones on Hayes and Ronan. By the time Helena came back out, I’d gotten a little work done.
Stupid crap that I knew I needed to start pushing off on my foreman. Just because he wasn’t Kira didn’t mean he wasn’t a good employee. But we’d always had short speak and now I needed to train someone else.
Kira taking over the taproom had been exactly what she needed even if it felt like I was missing an arm some days.
“Everything okay?”
I slipped an arm around Helena’s shoulders and pulled her to me. “Fine.”
She frowned up at me, but she didn’t say anything.
The trip into the main part of the orchard was quiet. My mind was spinning with all the things I was behind on. On the list of things I should have checked off before my meeting with Brennan. On the fact that I felt like things were slipping already.
