And I know my Angel so well now. She’s going to think I’m the kind of man who lets a woman down. No matter how much I swore at my phone hours ago, it didn’t have any bars. And no matter how much I swear at it now, curse words don’t provide a battery charge. I’m the idiot who forgot to shove his car charger into his bag, so I know she didn’t get any of my texts.
I’m falling for her.
Hard.
Deep.
And being late right now and hurting her isn’t helping my cause of convincing her how right we are for each other.
My foot punches the gas. No one else is on the dark, winding road. The wind shifts my truck a bit, but the black pavement is dry as a bone. I can push seventy when it’s safe to do so. But the hairpin curves slow me down, and the whole damn road seems to be a snaky shape. As the clock ticks, my pulse ratchets up.
In my mind, I see her pacing the kitchen, looking out the window and worrying her full lower lip with her teeth. She probably thinks I got killed by Hilda. And there’s more at stake than just this one dinner date. Within a few weeks, I have to wrap up my current project and move on. And I need weeks with Angelica to convince her to come with me as my wife, not mere days. She fits me like hand in glove – but getting her to believe that is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to face. Harder than dealing with a surly brown bear.
From all my work with the best Mother Nature provides, I know that a man can’t force trust, not with a wild animal and never with a wounded one. My Angelica is as delicate as a wilting petal. I know how she looks at me, how she is with me – a bolt of lightning could crackle between us – but she’s afraid to take it all the way. And being hours late is going to put another wall between us that I’m going to have to scale.
I hit her driveway at warp speed, brake to a skidding stop and barely cut the engine before scrambling out. The porch light is still on, a good sign, but my heart kicks in and thunders a million unspoken apologies with its fierce beat. I hope she’s pissed. She has every right to want to slap me in the face. But the possibility that terrifies me is that she’s hurt to the point where she wants to tell me to get lost. That she’s had enough of my pushing her.
I trot to the door and knock, then turn the knob. As I step inside, the silence envelops me. Terrifying silence. I let the door click shut behind me, muttering a few choice words under my breath.
Once glance lets me know what a complete fuck up I am. There’s a damn tablecloth on the kitchen table and a jasmine candle burned down to almost nothing. One she made with her perfect hands. A sigh rips out of me. I don’t need to step any closer to that pot roast surrounded by new potatoes, carrots and onions to know that it’s ice cold. I can smell the homemade rolls. She did all this for me.
And I screwed it up.
What if I screwed us up?
My gaze darts around the cabin until lands on her. She’s curled up in the armchair, with her knees pressed to her chest, her sooty lashes stark against the ivory of her cheeks. Her Kindle lays beside her, dark with the same sleep that claimed Angelica, her every curve highlighted by the low light of the single lamp on the end table beside her.
“Angelica.” Her name whispers from my lips like a prayer, soft and sure. After a few precious seconds, her eyes flutter open. A smile curls her lips and my heart flips over. Not pissed. At least not at the moment.
But then again, Angelica never behaves like any other woman I’ve ever known.
“Yikes, Knight.” Not even a hint of anger or recrimination settles into her expressive eyes. “You look like death warmed over.”
“Death?” I glance down, a little late realizing that I tore my coat and dragged mud inside the cabin on my boots. Shit. I didn’t get around to combing my hair or doing anything else to make myself look presentable. Nothing is going right for me tonight. “I’m so sorry. I’ll clean up the trail of dirt.”
She flicks a wrist and uncurls herself. “Forget it. Nothing a Swiffer can’t handle. And better tomorrow in the light of day. Sit down. I was going to feed you the moment you walked in, but from the look on your face, I think I’d better grab you a beer first.”
Her glance lands on the digital clock above the stove.
“Angelica, I meant to be here on time.”
She nods. “Of course you did. I’ve never known you to be late.”
“Supper looks fantastic. You went to so much work, and I ruined everything.” Faster than I can apologize a million times, she presses a bottle into my hand.
“Drink it,” she orders. “What happened to your cheek?” Her fingertips touch my skin, smooth as silk and just as gentle. “That is one hell of a bruise, Knight. I trust the other guy looks worse? Are you hurt anywhere else?”
“I’m not hurt at all,” I say in a rush. “I didn’t get in a fight.”
“Drink that beer,” she repeats.
The alcohol goes down like liquid fire and hits my gut with a burst of heat, giving me enough courage to prostrate myself at her feet again. “After I fed the kits, it was still too early to come here. But when I started hiking through the woods, I found more traps set on the state’s land. I’m in charge of the state’s land. And I know I didn’t set those damn torture devices. I dismantled those fuckers so they’re useless. I stayed a while in case the asshat who set them returned, but he didn’t. And on the way back to my truck, I didn’t have bars. Then my phone completely ran out of juice and I couldn’t find my car charger. I never expected to be gone that long. I’m a dipshit. You can totally smack me, if you want to.”
“Really, Knight, it’s not even an issue. Things happen. With your line of work, I know you’re going to get stuck outside with emergencies from time to time. Did you ever see said asshat?”
“No.” I rub the back of my neck, unsure why the tension settles and won’t release now that I know she’s not that mad at me. “I saw lights, thought it might be the poacher, but it was only Sheriff Callahan. Have you met him?”
She nods. “Yes. He’s blustery, but he’s not a bad guy.”
“Yeah, he’s not a bad guy. I gave him the traps and told him where I found them so he could keep a watch out for anyone poking around the area. He said he’d keep a keen eye out. Hunters like Callahan that abide by the law, don’t take too kindly to poachers. I’ll go back there tomorrow and check again in the daylight – see if I missed anything.”
“I knew there had to be something good about this winter thaw. A clear tire track or a footprint should be easier to examine in the mud than in the snow, don’t you think?”
“Maybe.”
I hook her wrist with my hand, yanking her closer, needing her soft heat pressed against me. I can’t believe she’s not pissed about all her hard work in the kitchen going straight down the drain. Every other woman I’ve ever been with would have read me the riot act and given me the silent treatment for days afterward.
Just another reason Angelica is perfect for me.
She belongs to me already.
She just doesn’t know it yet.
But I can start proving it to her right now.
“Are you hungry,” she asks. “I can heat the roast right up for you.”
“I’m not hungry,” I growl. At least not for food. She doesn’t tug her hand free from my iron grip. I can feel the pulse pounding underneath my fingertips, but she leans in even closer. As easily as she accepts my excuse for being late, she accepts my touch. “I was afraid you’d think I’d blown you off.”
Her eyebrows lift. “What? Not even close. I know how important your work is to you and that you’re in the woods. Things happen. I’ll admit to a little bit of worry about your safety, but I never once thought you were blowing me off.”
There. There it is. How important my work is to me. Not how important she is to me. I’m grateful she understands that I don’t live and die by the clock, but it’s not just understanding I see in the depths of her eyes, it’s acceptance. That she’s not good enough to be my priority. Hell, she’s my number one p
riority. Now and forever.
I give her wrist a yank. Not hard. I’d plunge my bowie knife into my own chest before hurting Angelica, and I’d never be rough with her unless she begged me for it, but the motion presses her flush against my chest. My mouth swoops down and captures hers, kissing the hell out of her until she understands just how much she means to me.
Her lips make a cushion for my awkward landing, as if she knows how short I am on my usual control. I have to convince her. I have to. With one slip of her tongue against mine, I forget about being exhausted and frustrated. I forget about the surging adrenaline when I think about shaking the poacher until his teeth rattle out of his head. She tastes like honey and spices and everything that’s soft and vulnerable about a woman.
But she also tastes like fire and desire and all the electric chemistry that’s been building between us since the first time we met.
She tastes like mine.
Her hands clutch my shoulders as I deepen the kiss, devouring her mouth like a man hungry for his last meal.
“I guess you don’t want roast?” she asks, the words escaping in a gritty mess.
“I want you.”
“But you wandered in here looking so down. You don’t want to decompress?” Her eyes search mine. “Rest for a bit?”
“I want to fuck you, Angelica. I want to sink so deep inside you that you become a part of me.”
The rawness of the words leaves no doubt lingering in the charged air between us. Her breath stops – a flash of desire lights her eyes – and her elegant throat swallows her response. Then I see a sliver of hesitation. I can’t let that happen. I can’t let her fear gallop out of control.
Her gaze lands on mine, as if unsure I really said the feral words, unsure of how much I want her. Only her. I could easily reassure her. But I want to claim her as mine and mark her as mine. I want her in my bed tonight and every other night until the day I draw my last breath. I want her naked and shuddering underneath my hands.
I want her as the mother of my children.
I want her as my companion as I grow old.
I want it all.
“Angelica, I’m in love with you.”
Her breath hitches in her throat again. “Knight, you’re just worked up. Don’t say something you don’t mean.”
I press my fingertip to her lips. “Shh. Don’t you dare deny me this. I love you. I started falling the moment we met and now I’m all the way there. I know my own mind and heart.”
Moments stretch out like hours as I wait, my next exhale held tightly in my lungs. When she doesn’t protest again, I swoop her into my arms, taking her mouth with all the emotion that I feel inside. She doesn’t believe me yet, but I’ll prove it to her tonight when I worship every inch of her curves.
My pulse races through my body, stronger than a Midwestern tornado. Angelica surrenders to me, her full breasts pressing into my chest, begging me to touch them. Her hands flutter to my shoulders, hanging on for dear life, as if I might disappear if she lets go.
“I’m not going anywhere, gorgeous girl,” I whisper in her ear, nipping on the lobe with my teeth. “You’re safe with me.”
I pull her sweater over her head, then come back for another searing kiss before she has a chance to get cold. The difference in our height is easily resolved by lifting her in my arms and wrapping her legs around my waist. With easy strides, I head toward her bedroom. Moonlight spills through the window, illuminating the white duvet. When we fall in a heap on the mattress, the brass bedposts protest.
As Angelica lays lush and spread out underneath me, I curse the fact that I’m not her first. But I’ll be her last. I can’t reach my hand back into the past and bitch slap every man who hurt her – who didn’t step up – who didn’t make her feel adored. But I can change that tonight with every touch and every breath.
I roll onto my side so I can tug her jeans off her body. The whole bedroom is dark and shadowy, but her face is bathed in the moonlight streaming in through the window. She’s an angel. My angel. Her pulse throbs in her throat and after I toss her jeans to the floor, I decide it needs soothing with my tongue.
Angelica moans, and nothing has ever sounded so amazing to my ears. And her eyes… they slay me, mesmerizing and vulnerable. I can’t wait to see her face when she comes apart as I sink inside her for that delicious first time.
“Knight?” She whispers my name on an inhale, the sigh in her voice making my heart gallop.
“Yes?”
“I don’t have any… you know?”
“A man is always prepared, especially for the woman he loves.” I don’t tell her that I hate having to wrap it and that the thought of her belly swollen with my baby does things to me that I can’t even begin to articulate. I want to talk to her about kids and birth control and everything.
Just not right now.
“You’re wearing too many clothes,” she says, casting her gaze downward.
I get to work, ripping my belt off and tossing it on top of her sweater, then pulling my thermal t-shirt over my head. Everywhere Angelica’s eyes touch me, I blaze fire. I hustle to yank off my jeans and socks before that naughty invitation in her eyes abates. But it doesn’t.
Angelica’s delicate fingers dance through the coarse hair on my chest, her palms kneading and stroking every muscle, and she follows the trail of her hands with her full lips until I harden to an impossible length. Her cheek nestles in the curve of my neck and she gives a little moan of pleasure.
I’ve never felt this way before, like a woman gets me – all of me. Her leg twists over me, pulling me closer, anchoring me to her as if connecting our bodies will connect our hearts and souls.
But she doesn’t realize that’s already happened. The moment I gave my heart to her, I became bound to her forever. She loves me too. I can feel it. Sense it. I guessed it before, but I wasn’t sure until this very moment. The emotion pouring off Angelica in waves tells the tale in the absence of words. Her skin glows in the moonlight, her arms curling around me, the fierce lust in her eyes enough to put me straight over the edge.
I throw the pillows on the floor and twist her beneath me. It doesn’t take me long to rip open the condom I flung on the bed and suit up, and when Angelica wraps her legs around me with a moan, my stomach clenches. Her back arches when I slide home, and a shiver rips through her as I fill her to overflowing. My mouth seeks hers in a kiss so slow and gentle, it completely contradicts the wild way she demands that I thrust hard and deep.
I’ve experienced lust before. But until now, I’ve never found a woman who matched me like a twin flame – her hunger a soul mate to mine. Everything about this woman has crawled inside me never to be eradicated. Her touch, her smell, the feminine heat rolling off her body in lazy waves. I’m addicted to her. Now and forever.
Angelica’s hands snake around me as she tries to increase my speed to the rhythm she wants and seems to need. Frantic. Wild. But I keep it slow and steady, not wanting to lose control and ruin it all. I’m not happy unless she is, and I’m not stopping until she comes again all over my cock. Fire races through my veins, blazing through my limbs until a light sheen of sweat pops out on my forehead. I watch her like I can drink her in with my gaze until I see her eyes turn dazed and smoky, her body arching upward in a haze of need.
After that first time when I licked her into oblivion, I knew she’d be this way with me. I knew she’d give me everything she had to give and then some. And now I’m just a little annoyed with myself that I ever doubted Angelica in the first place. Her self-confidence is back in spades, and it came back underneath the gentle nudge of my hands and lips. If she wants to completely surrender, she can. I’ll always be there to catch her.
Protect her.
Claim her.
My name falls from her lips again as I reach between us and strum her swollen clit with my thumb. As her pussy clenches around me, her moonlit face erupts in rapture. She lets go, soaring with the force of her release and I’m not far beh
ind her, catching her with my body and with my love.
Chapter Fifteen
Angelica
After Knight dozes off, I lay with my eyes wide open. There’s a comfortable ache between my legs that I want to keep right on feeling. Never mind rest. I want to savor the exquisite feeling of being completely sated and satisfied by the man I love.
Love.
Belong to.
After Dravon’s betrayal, I never thought I would feel this way again. But now I know that the hurtful things in our past make us the people we are today. Without Dravon’s devastating actions, I wouldn’t have met Knight. Things happen for a reason.
Even though I’ve heard that phrase my entire life, I never really believed it until this moment.
I glance over at Knight, flopped on the mattress on his stomach. His thick hair is rumpled, the pillow crunched underneath his stubbly cheek. He already stole the sheet and only a corner of the duvet covers my midsection. Even in sleep the man’s an alpha, because when I tried to sneak out of the bed, he snaked his hands around my waist to pull me back against his body heat and never even opened an eye.
My eyes drink him in. My mood is euphoric, but fragile. I’ve never felt the way I feel when I’m with Knight. He says he loves me. And I love him, I do. But I’m not sure he loves the real Angelica yet, so I’m afraid to declare myself. He sees the best version of me, and he loves that girl. He doesn’t have the total picture no matter how many times I’ve tried to tell him, and he’s pushed my revelations aside.
My hands tug at the duvet and snuggle in deeper, keeping out the cold air. When he walked in last night, he was bursting with regret and apologies, and I didn’t know we’d end up tangled up in the sheets. Not that I regret a single second. There is no man alive who brings out the best in me like Knight Evermore. To never express that to him with my body would be an opportunity lost, no matter the risk to my heart.
I’ve never fooled myself about our future or lack thereof. He’s leaving soon. My rational mind knows it, but my heart hasn’t gotten the message. I also know he needs a stronger woman for a wife, not someone always worried about whether or not she’s good enough. I understand that – like really understand it – and I accept it as well. I thought I knew fear, but with every exhale of breath, I realize I don’t. Because I’m not sure I’ll ever get over this man when he leaves me.
Finally A Bride: A Valentine's Day Romance Page 13
