AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It’s what we were talking about on the date,” I say, my heart pounding hard. It’s like the frantic beating is trying to shut me up and warn me that if I keep going, I could risk everything, but I push on. “About a family. Children. Stuff like that.”
“Look at me, Samantha,” he says fiercely.
I turn with an effort. He’s staring down at me, his blue eyes blazing. He steps forward, holding the leash in one hand, gently smoothing his other around my body. He stares right into my eyes. “Tell me what you’re thinking. Don’t worry. Whatever it is, you’re not scaring me away.”
I cling onto his shirt, digging my nails in, almost as if I’m getting ready for him to push me away. “Well, I was thinking, honestly, that…”
“Say it.” He leans closer, staring directly into my soul. I’m sure I can see some guilt in his eyes, some indication that he shouldn’t be going this far without his son’s blessing, but like me, he can’t stop. “Don’t leave me hanging, my perfect painter.”
The nickname sends those familiar yet captivating tingles through my body. Okay, this is it. I didn’t plan on this when I drove out here, but I’m on the edge now. I have to step forward. I’ve spent way too long hiding inside myself.
Staring right up at him,intohim—it’s how he stares at me—I lick my lips. “I want it all with you,” I whisper. “The future. The family. The kids. Everything we talked about.”
For long, long seconds, he says nothing. Then his lips curve into a smirk. He thinks I’m joking. He’s going to make a wisecrack. He’s going to use humor as a method to give me an escape from this situation, but I can’t laugh at this.
I turn, meaning to walk away, but Loki is standing on my other side. I’m not sure when the little man sneaked over here. The leash wraps around one side. Loki stares up with a determined, doggy expression as though intent on keeping me here.
“Samantha,” Fletcher growls, taking my hand and turning me toward him. “I want it, too.”
“You…”
He leans down, warm breath shivering over me. “I want it, too—more than anything. I want—need—you. I need you so badly it hurts. I needed you the first moment I saw you. When I first saw you and James, I didn’t even recognize him. I just saw my woman. That’s how I was thinking of you already.My womanand I knew I had to defend you.”
I press both hands against his chest, feeling his heartbeat slamming and his muscles tense. “Do you mean it? Really?”
“I’ve never meant anything more,” he growls. “You and I are forever.Forever. I’ve never been more certain about anything.”
He leans down and kisses me. I return the kiss. Our mouths open, our tongues hungrily seeking each other out. I smooth my hands under his jacket, feeling his firmness, strength, and power. He grabs my hips and gently pushes me away.
“We should talk more at my place,” he says, the passion in his breathy voice telling me everything I need to know. Hedefinitelymeans more than talking.
I grab his shoulders, searching his face for any sign of deceit. “Tell me you mean it. Promise.Swear.”
“I swear on Loki,” he growls. “I swear on my life. I swear on my son’s life.” We pause, both of us thinking the same thing. It’s a little ironic to use James as proof of our honor. “The. First. Time. The second I saw you, you were mine. Nothing will ever change that.”
I nod, stand on my tiptoes, and kiss him on the cheek. “Then let’s go.”
We head toward the park’s exit, even if we shouldn’t. We should wait until James… until James what? Stops feeling exactly how his father feels?
At my car, he kisses me on the cheek. “Follow me, my perfect painter.”
“Are we going to your place?” I ask.
“The apartment,” he says, not having to explain why.
If we went home, his son might catch us.
CHAPTERTWENTY-SIX
Fletcher
I take Loki to his dog bed in the hallway, kneeling and stroking him softly under the chin. He yawns and whines, curling into a ball. Standing, I join my woman in the living room. She’s sitting on the couch, looking sexy in her pink T-shirt and jeans. She could wear anything and still make me hungrier than lingerie would with anybody else. I only want her forever. Now I know she feels the same.
She bites her lip as I join her on the couch, a flash of guilt in her glance. I know where it’s coming from. It’s the fact that we haven’t dealt with the James situation yet. Even thinking of it as theJames situationmakes me a bad parent.
I can’t think about anything else when I wrap my arms around my woman—the gunshots (both recent and in the more distant past), the pain, the doubt. All of it melts away when I lean down and find her lips. She gasps in the cutest way, as though she’s surprised. I kiss her deeper, with more hunger.
She moans through the kiss when I slide my hand up her thigh. Goddamn, I love that noise. She presses her hands against my chest, digging her fingernails through my shirt. I can feel her passion, her neediness.
