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“I don’t deserve you.”
“Of course you do.” I pick up his massive hand and place it against the center of my chest. “We’re both so used to feeling unwanted, unloved. It’s easy to get used to that. But you deserve someone’s tenderness and affection. I want to give you that.”
His eyes fall to a close for only a moment.
“I never knew, Kayla. I never knew how it felt to have it.” His eyes glaze over. “Not until you.”
His fingers slice into my hair, and gradually, he brings my lips to his, a breath between them.
“What now?” he asks, like he’s afraid I won’t forgive him.
But, see? I have already, because how could I not?
“Now we just focus on finding them. Until then…I wanna do this.”
With a palm to the back of his neck, I pull him in, and I kiss him slowly, tenderly, just like he deserves.
With a growl, he fists my hair and takes the air from my lungs as he kisses me back with everything he has and more.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
ADRIEL
One day bleedsinto the next, and she’s sleeping in my arms, her head resting on my bicep as I stare down at her with my elbow propped.
When I let her rip off my mask, I was afraid it was over, whatever the hell we have torn to shreds. But I wanted her to know. I was sick of her not being able to look into my eyes, to see me, to know what she has come to mean to me. It was the only way I could show her. I don’t have the words to give her.
It was close. She was gonna walk away, but somehow, I managed to save it. I don’t know what I would’ve done if I couldn’t. Because I need her. She will never truly understand the degree to which I crave her, the connection between us seared to last eternity, even after we’re gone.
She starts to wake, groaning as she stretches her arms up. A smile twines over her mouth, and I can’t help returning it. I hatedpretending when I was Chris. I wanted her to know me as Adriel, not some persona I had created to serve a purpose.
I never intended to meet her. But once I did, it was too late. I couldn’t risk her telling Elsie or any of her friends who I was. I didn’t know what her reaction would ultimately be. So I pretended. I was two people, and I despised every moment she spent with him. Because he wasn’t me, not in the ways that mattered.
But now I have her. I can be me. I can be the one she leans on. I no longer have to hide behind a mask.
Her fingers reach toward the stubble of my jaw, her half-lidded gaze assessing me deeply, making me want to get lost inside this woman. It’s a feeling most akin to being drunk, a loss of control. My heart beats faster when she looks at me, my gut tightening for reasons a man like me will never understand.
“What?” she asks, her sleepy tone not helping my desire for her.
Instinctively, I clasp a hand over her cheek. “Nothing. Just staring at you.” I smirk. “You make it difficult not to.”
“I like being able to look back at you.” Her hazel eyes glisten.
“Is it weird?” I whisper. “Without the mask?”
“No. Just weird that you’re Chris. I still can’t believe you’re him and he’s you. I—” She sighs. “I don’t even know anymore. I just know that I have to forgive you because I don’t really know how not to.” She clutches my wrist. “For the first time since I’ve been rescued, someone sees me. I’m not afraid of being judged. I’m not seen as broken. Not with you.”
“Broken? Nothing about you is broken. You’re safe with me. I’m your home now, little wolf, and you’re mine.”
She grins, and the way my heart beats, it’s unexplainable.
“How are you feeling? Need more pain meds?”
She shakes her head. “I’m better. Just a little throbbing. NothingI can’t handle.”
I release a harsh exhale. “I don’t want you to hurt at all. So if you need something, I can give it to you.”
She throws an arm around my shoulder. “You’ve already given me so much.”
