Page 101 of Hero for the Holidays

“I’m not a teenager anymore either. And I don’t need you to be unmarked by these years. That part of you. Part of your story. Part of our story. You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

He went back up onto his feet and unhooked her bra, casting it to the side. He let out a curse, short and swift. She was everything he could’ve wanted.

She had been shaped by the years into just the kind of woman he craved. Because it was her. Always her.

With her pale skin, freckles on her breasts, silvery stretch marks.

She was absolutely perfect. Absolutely awe-inspiring.

He undid the snap on her jeans, then the zipper, pushing them down her legs as she kicked her shoes off, and he managed to take off every stitch of clothing.

She was naked in front of him, that red triangle of curls between her legs a glory he had never thought he’d see again.

He moved to her, cupped her breast, smoothed his thumb over her nipple, and she gasped. His heart was pounding so hard he thought it might burst through his chest. He had nothing. Absolutely nothing inside of him. No thought, no speech. It was like being before a transcendent work of art. It made him question his own humanity in the face of it. His own significance.

Because she was Fia Sullivan, and she was everything. Because she was the most beautiful woman on God’s earth.

And that was the truest damn thing.

Because she was everything. Absolutely everything. He kissed her mouth again, her neck, as he continued to move his hands over her curves.

Luxuriating in the feel of her.

“You are perfect,” he whispered.

“Landry,” she whispered against his mouth. “Take your clothes off.”

He moved away from her and gripped the back of his shirt, pulling it up over his head.

Fia’s eyes went wide.

“Damn,” she said. His lips curved into a smile, and he kicked his boots off as he undid his belt. As he took off his jeans and underwear.

And he could see that reflected appreciation in her own eyes.

It was a wonder. A damned miracle. Perfect for each other at every age, he supposed.

And this, whatever it was, would fuel his fantasies from now on.

She had already ruined him for everything and everyone else.

So this would just make it complete. This would just make it more profound. He was all right with it. He really was.

But it wasn’t just desire, there was an emotion swelling up between them that he knew they both felt. Because it was like another person standing in the room. As obvious and present as either of them.

He reached out and cupped her face. “Fia...” He moved his thumb over her bottom lip. Words failed him. There was nothing he could say. She was the woman who he had hurt the deepest of anyone in his life. She was also the woman he had cared more about than anyone in this world.

He had failed her.

In that way, he was like his father. He had a chance to be good. To love her the way that she needed, and when given that chance he hadn’t listened. When given that chance he had failed. When given that chance, he had been nothing but selfish, extraordinarily so. And there were no words for that. There was nothing but this deep groaning in his spirit. Another strange thing he was sure that he heard in a sermon, and he didn’t know why in hell church was on his mind now. Except that this was spiritual. Not just physical. Except that his soul was sure as hell involved if there was such a thing, and the divine felt present now more than it ever had.

He wanted to tell her that he was sorry. He wanted to drop to his knees and beg for her forgiveness. He’d asked for it several times over the last few weeks. What he felt now... It was more than sorry. It was sorrow. For the way that he had failed to be there. For the way that he had absolutely lived up to the King family name.

He wanted that name to mean more. He wanted it to mean better. But they couldn’t just want that. They all had to be it. Including him.

Now though, he couldn’t find words. Now though, he had nothing but the deep, intense need to be closer to her. So that was what he did. Kissed her. Until there was nothing but them.

He kissed them both firmly into the present. And even though the past was still there with them, it wasn’t the biggest thing. The memories weren’t the most important thing. Weren’t the most vivid. The brightest thing was her mouth on his. Her soft, naked body pressed against his.

---