Page 48 of Reclaimed Roots

Natalie nodded, her shoulders slumping. "I know I haveno right to ask for your forgiveness. But I need you to know that walking away from you was the hardest thing I've ever done. And not a day has gone by that I haven't regretted it."

I walked over to the stump of that old oak tree, sat down, and closed my eyes, letting her words wash over me. It was tempting to hold on to the anger. Bitterness was the shield I'd used to protect my shattered heart all these years. But another part, the part that never stopped loving her, ached to reach out, to pull her into my arms.

Because no matter how much she hurt me, no matter how far we'd drifted, she was still Natalie.

My girl.

My best friend since before I could remember.

The girl who owned every piece of my heart.

I looked at her out of the corner of my eye. She was still beautiful. Maybe even more beautiful than I remembered. The years had added graceful maturity to her delicate features. But there were shadows in her eyes that hadn't been there before, a weariness.

Just like me.

We'd both been through hell, but maybe we could choose to put it all behind us.

"Come here." My voice was gruff, demanding.

She hesitated for just a moment before stepping forward. She stopped an arm's length away, looking at me questioningly.

I reached for her. My hands found her waist, and I pulled her to me. She came willingly, melting into my embrace as Iburied my face in her stomach. I breathed her in, the scent of her filling my lungs, warming me from the inside out.

Her fingers threaded through my hair, nails lightly scratching my scalp in that way always drove me wild. My hands flexed on her hips, itching to slip beneath the hem, to feel her bare skin against my palms.

Fuck, I wanted her. No. Ineededher with an intensity that bordered on pain.

Her breathing hitched, her belly quivering under my cheek. I tilted my head back to look at her. The raw hunger in her eyes stole the breath from my lungs. She gazed down at me, lips parted, pupils blown wide and dark.

I was seeing her stripped bare. No walls, no pretenses. Just Natalie, open and wanting. For me.

My heart hammered against my ribs as I trailed my hands up her sides, learning her curves all over again. I skimmed my fingers along the dip of her waist, the jut of her hip bone. Teasing, exploring, reacquainting myself with every inch of her. My cock twitched against my thigh at the needy little whimpers escaping her throat.

Her hands slid from my hair to cup my jaw, tilting my face up to hers. Her thumbs rasped over the stubble on my cheeks. I leaned into her caress, starving for more. Always more, when it came to her.

Slowly, deliberately, she sank down onto my lap, straddling my thighs. I bit back a groan and gripped her hips, holding her steady as she settled against me.

And then we just... looked at each other. No words, nosound but our ragged breathing and the crickets chirping in the grass.

Natalie's eyes searched mine, dark and luminous in the moonlight. I saw my own longing reflected back at me, that desperate need to reconnect.

But there was fear there too. Uncertainty. The kind that comes from too many years and too much distance. From wounds that never fully healed.

I wanted to kiss it away. To soothe every hurt, erase every doubt. Show her with my hands, my mouth, my body, that this—us—was still real. Still alive, despite everything.

I leaned in. Her breath caught, but she didn't retreat. Just licked her lips, eyes dropping to my mouth.

Fuck, that was hot.

I closed the last bit of distance between us, brushing my lips over hers. A barely-there graze, more breath than contact. But it zinged through me, setting every nerve ending on fire.

She made a soft, desperate sound, and then she was kissing me back. Hard and deep. Her fingers curled into the hair at my nape, tugging me closer as her lips slanted over mine. Demanding, consuming, like she wanted to crawl inside me and never come out.

I groaned into her mouth and slid my hands up her back to crush her against my chest. She fit me perfectly. Her slender curves molded to my harder planes like she was made for me. Like we were made for each other.

Kissing her was like surfacing for air after being underwater too long. It was heat and hunger, tenderness, andpassion, a thousand memories flooding back in an overwhelming rush.

The sweet give of her lips. The hot slide of her tongue against my own. The breathy little noises she made when I nipped at her bottom lip.

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