Page 22 of Knight's Last Chance

“But . . . what’s changed?”

“A few weeks ago, when the guys and I were uncovering a trafficking ring, I came across girls who were scared and lost, and I thought of you. Remember the first time you showed up at the camp?”

I nod, my eyes filling with tears. “Yeah, I was wearing ripped jeans and an old t-shirt. You were the one who saw me first and brought me to Priest.” That was the first moment in my life that I felt truly safe.

“When you told us about everything that happened to you, I wanted to tuck you inside me and guard you from the world. Everyone at camp made a vow to protect you that night. When you kissed me on your eighteenth birthday, you were still very much trying to get your bearings, and I didn’t want to take advantage of that. I wanted you to go out into the world and have a normal life. I couldn’t hold you back, no matter how much I wanted to.”

“I . . . I wanted you.” Still do.

“Time is the only thing we’ve had on our side, Rhea. Took us a minute, but we found our way back to each other.”

I nod, blinking back tears. “Okay.”

“We’ll get it right this time,” he promises, rubbing his thumb over my wrist, and if the move is meant to be calming, it has the opposite effect. He must read something in my expression because his eyes quickly darken and narrow on me.

“What’s that look for?” he asks, his lips curving in a cocky grin that does things to my insides I refuse to think about with so many people around us.

“Nothing, I’m just tired is all.”

His brows arch, and a smug, knowing look settles in his expression. “Sure, let’s head back so you can get some rest.”

I push the chair back, and I am out of the coffee shop before I remember I’ve left all the sweets I bought. If the dangerous glint in Knight’s eye is anything to go by, then I can tell I’m going to need all the energy I can get. I am about to head back inside for the box when Knight stops me, holding it up.

“You seem oddly eager for someone who’s supposed to be tired.”

“Yeah, well, you’ll learn that exhaustion manifests itself in different ways,” I say with a mock glare, knowing full well that the words will come back to bite me in the ass.

A few minutes later, I am literally shaking, tapping my feet impatiently as I watch the numbers on the elevator in my building change at a snail’s pace and begging for the darn thing to get to my floor. Serves me right for getting the apartment on the top floor. In my defense, after growing up in a trailer park, I wanted to live in a high-rise building, so when Priest brought me here to pick an apartment, it was a no-brainer that I wanted the furthest one from the ground.

A lot of good that is doing me now.

“We’re here,” I practically yell, grabbing Knight’s arm and dragging him out of the elevator. He chuckles at my eagerness, but the second my apartment door locks behind us, I find myself pulled flush against his massive chest with the man tugging at my clothes fervently. His lips are on mine before I can catch my breath, and soon, his tongue is twined with mine, battling for dominance.

“What have you done to me, Rhea?” he says breathlessly, his lips dropping to my neck, kissing and licking at my skin with the hunger of a man who’s not had sex in years, when in actuality, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Everything happens in a flash as Knight strips off our clothes, and I’m soon at risk of rug burns as spins and ruts me in all the positions he can think of. It’s all too much, and yet, not enough. I claw his back as he rams his massive shaft into my hot channel, railing me on the floor until I have no doubt I have woken all my neighbors on my floor and the one beneath.

We lose all sense of time as we make love in ways I never would have imagined, and when Knight leans down and whispers his love into my ear, my entire world explodes into a thousand pieces.

“I love you too,” I whisper, wrapping my arms around his neck as he follows me over the edge, coming apart beautifully on top of me until we’re both boneless. Tears spring to my eyes as we lie down, locked in an embrace, and I realize I am living my greatest dream.

All those nights watching this man from my bedroom window and wishing for him to be mine, and now he is. God, all I can think is . . . finally.

“Mine,” he says with a pant, pressing his lips to my temple. “You’re stuck with me for the rest of our lives. Forever.”

Forever sounds perfect.

Epilogue

Knight

Four Years Later

“You know I don’t do well in chaos.”

I lean a hip on the doorframe and watch with humor as my lovely wife tries to wipe the food off her clothes, but it’s an impossible task seeing it’s practically everywhere. I am cradling the dress she borrowed to change into and fighting with my baser needs to not push her against the bathroom wall and take her. I have to remind myself that we’re not at our house, and there are a bunch of kids running around beyond the bathroom door.

“Do you think they’ll notice if we don’t come back right away?” I ask, running my eyes over my wife’s perfect body, every last inch of her is a goddamn masterpiece.

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