AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her hand dropped from where she’d gripped his arm and he grabbed her with his free hand, keeping her from putting any more distance between them, from retreating. She watched him with caution, as if unclear about what he would do, what he would say to her declaration of love.
What would he do? It was all he’d ever wanted to hear. From the moment they’d met, he’d been chasing her, wishing she’d let him catch her, wishing she’d just give in and let him love her the way he wanted to. He hadn’t expected her capitulation to be in a hospital suite as he worried for his mother. He hadn’t expected to still have the taste of Seraphina’s desertion lingering on his tongue when she told him she loved him.
But that was the thing about her, wasn’t it? She didn’t do the expected and he should have known that from the beginning, should have accepted she was like no other woman he’d ever known.
“Julián.”
He folded her hand in his and brought it to his lips. She overwhelmed him, always had, and now, despite all the shit swirling in his head, he couldn’t voice it. His throat worked as he swallowed and he pressed his lips to her knuckles. She made an unchecked sound, a happy sigh that hit him in the gut, and wiggled her fingers free, cupping his jaw.
Toro’s eyes closed as he shuddered. He missed her touch. Missed her warmth. Nobody knew her like he did, nobody understood her the way he did. She was the toughest nut to crack, but she’d opened for him.
Reopening his eyes, he told her firmly, “I don’t care who you are. I love every single part of you.” Every single one. She wasn’t for everybody. No doubt more people hated her than loved her, butheloved her.Hewanted her. He would go to battle with Seraphina herself just to have this moment again, where she told him she loved him with shaky, halting words.
They were the most beautiful he’d ever heard.
The most sincere.
And he’d die before he allowed her to put barriers up between them again.
Her eyes shined for him now. Maybe she hadn’t expected him to accept her words, to forgive her. But she was his and he would give her everything. Anything she asked for. Even forgiveness.
Toro cupped her chin. “I won’t let you fall,” he promised in a harsh whisper. “Swear to God, you can let go with me.” They stared at each other, and when tears slid down her cheeks, he wiped them away. More fell, and he put his lips on them, his tongue too, tasting the power in her release, the rightness in her surrender. His own eyes burned and he squeezed them shut when she collapsed against his chest.
He wrapped both arms around her.
It was almost more than he could take, this moment. The weight of her in his arms, knowing just what it took for them to get there. It was almost too much. He held her. She clung to him and he put his lips to her temple and breathed.
He felt as if he’d only been existing since the last time he had her like this, since the last time he felt her heartbeat reverberate against him, since he felt her breath on his skin. His chest seemed too small to contain what he felt, but he had no words. He simply wanted to hold her, inhale her, love her.
She eased back, head lifting, gaze settling on his face, and whatever she saw there made her features crumple. “I love you so much.” It came out as a sob riding a prayer.
Toro stroked the curve of her jaw with a trembling finger. “I got you,” he promised in an equally rough voice. “I love you.”
It might not make sense to anyone else looking in, but it made perfect sense to him. She was challenge and fight and imperfections. She was danger and thrill and the sweetest reward. After everything she’d done, some might even say she didn’t deserve forgiveness, or to be happy, but nobody would dare say that to his face. He would fight to the death for the woman he loved. She’d been created for him. He believed that with his whole heart.
He cupped her face with both hands and brought their foreheads together. She kissed him. Soft lips pressed to his, demanding he let her in. He did, and they collided, a crash in slow motion. The hunger she roused in him almost cut him in half and he moaned, fingers pressing into her jaw, mouth opening wider, their tongues battling. Her breath hitched when he tightened his grip on her, and Toro smiled against her lips.
Wanting her would never get old. He would never get enough, and from the moment he’d laid eyes on her, he’d never been the same. Whatever she wanted, whatever she needed, that was what and who he’d be.
Seraphina was the one who broke the kiss, lips wet, eyes glistening when she gazed back at him. No one was as beautiful as her. He couldn’t stop touching her, stroking the softness of her cheek. “Sera.”
Her gaze flicked past his shoulders and she stiffened, eyes flaring wide.
“What?” He glanced back, following her stare.
His mother’s eyes were open, blinking at them.
Toro’s heart lurched up into his throat and he grabbed Seraphina’s hand, bringing her to her feet when he jumped to his. “Mom?”
36
His mother openingher eyes brought a flurry of activity. Doctors and nurses filled the room the moment he alerted them, and Toro didn’t get the chance to do anything besides stand by and watch as they put his mother through another battery of blood and cognitive tests to ensure she was okay.
The entire time, he stood to the side, Seraphina’s hand clasped tightly in his.
It’d been like taking a fist to the throat, staring into his mother’s eyes finally, and he might’ve pinched himself if Seraphina’s grip wasn’t bruising enough. It wasn’t a dream. His mother was awake, finally, and he didn’t hear or see anything from the doctors—at least not yet—that told him they were worried.
Patricia’s voice was a raspy thread of sound as she responded to verbal commands and it really was the best thing Toro had ever heard. He swallowed the lump in his throat, the fear that had turned most of him to ice slowly melting, releasing its hold on him.
