Page 65 of Recklessly Rogue

“I know.”

I get it. We’re the same.

“I feel that way sometimes.” I shrug. “Look at the group I hang out with. There are lots of instances when I’m not needed or where I’m the least important person in the situation. Notonly are there lots of other people with power and money, there are other bodyguards who have the same training and skills I do.”

She tips her head. “Hmmm…you know, I never thought about it, but that’s got to be hard on you. Not always being the most handsome, or richest, or most charming, or most talented guy in the room…”

I narrow my eyes and drop my voice low. “Don’t even try that. You don’t even notice other men when I’m around.”

I can tell she’s fighting a little smile and I know she’s feeling a little better if she can tease me.

“To be fair, until Scarlett’s wedding, I was comparing you to men in Emerald, Ohio. That trip to Cara was the first time I’d met Jonah. And Torin. And Colin. And Declan…”

I grasp the edges of her stool, and tug her between my knees. “Let me tell you something right now, Gem.”

She swallows hard, her wide-eyed gaze on mine. “What?” she nearly whispers.

“If you need to be needed, there isn’t another person on this planet who needs you the way I do.”

Her pretty mouth falls open slightly.

I lift my hand and cup her face, dragging my thumb over her bottom lip. “You consume all of my thoughts,” I tell her. “I want you every second of every day. I wish like hell I could move on, but I already know for a fact that that’s impossible.Ineed you. If you need to be needed by someone, you don’t have to look any further than right in front of you.”

She stares at me for three beats. Then she says simply, “Show me.”

Those are the only two words I need.

Ruby needs to feel needed? She needs to be important to someone? She needs to be the center of someone’s universe?

I amthatfucking guy.

Chapter 16

Henry

Iscoop my hands under her ass, lift her from the stool, and pull her forward as I stand from my seat. She wraps her arms and legs around me, and I stride to the only empty wall in the room.

I press her against the space next to the fridge, making sure she feels how hard I am already.

“I need you more than I need air,” I tell her. “I need your taste.” I kiss her deeply, sliding my tongue over hers, loving the way she meets me stroke for stroke. I lick over every inch of her mouth. Then I pull back. “I need to lick you, kiss you, fuck you, own you. I need your cries, your moans, your gasps. I need to hear my name from this gorgeous mouth. I need you to come. I need you to shatter. And Ineedto make you happy.”

“Yes.”

That’s all she says. That’s all she has to say.

I put her feet on the floor, then drop to my knees in front of her. I slide my hands up her thighs, my fingers slipping under the hem of that fucking T-shirt, inching it up her flat, smooth stomach. “I need you happy. I need you mindless. I need you overwhelmed. I need you spent.”

Her head falls back against the wall behind her, and her eyes slide shut. But her hand reaches out, gliding into my hair and gripping.

“I need you so fucking much,” I say, leaning in and putting my face against her stomach. I breathe deeply, the scent of her soap mingling with scents from the bar and the definite scent of her arousal already obvious.

“I need to please you,” I tell her. “I need you to open this sweet body up so I can get at every inch and make you scream.”

She takes a shuddering breath, and her fingers curl against my scalp.

I kiss up her stomach as I strip her shirt up and over her head. I toss it, my hands immediately going to the clasp on her bra as I kiss her deeply again. When her bra is gone, I fill my hands with her gorgeous tits.

“I’ve missed you,” I tell her. “The feel of you—your skin, these tits, these nipples.” I pluck at her nipples, eliciting a gasp, then a groan.

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