Page 26 of Unholy Cross

She revealed nothing in her solemn grey eyes.He didn’t know where he now stood with her.

“Are you afraid of me now?Because this is who I am, Lorelei.I’m no angel.He wasn’t the first man I’ve killed and he probably won’t be the last.”

Slowly, she shook her head no.

He relaxed a little as a weight slid from his shoulders.He’d been so afraid she’d turn away, disgusted with his actions.“I had to call Jeremiah to help me clean up the mess.He also had his personal physician treat you.You scared the shit out of me, you know.Does that always happen?”

She shrugged, as if she was unconcerned, but he didn’t buy that response for a second.He tipped her face upward so she couldn’t hide.

“Does it?”

She gave a slight nod of her head.

“So, you absorb the sickness and then your body has to burn it off.Correct?”

“Yes, depending on the severity of the wound.Small stuff I barely feel.Larger wounds take time to recover from.”

He ran a hand over his face, looking like just he lost his faith.“I understand now.”

Lorelei cocked her head.

“The toll this has put on you,” he continued.“When that imposter father told me about you, about what you could do, I wanted you for myself.I thought you could make the fucking noise in my head go quiet.I’m a selfish bastard, but I never want you to save me if it means you suffer.I won’t make the same mistake with you that I made with Vivi.You deserve the life that was stolen from you, and if that means without me, then I’ll help you get it.”

If she left him, he didn’t know what he’d do.Once more, those dark thoughts crept around the edges of his mind, taunting that they hadn’t fully gone away.They were waiting to drag him into the black void he’d existed in ever since he left Illinois.

Lorelei wrote something and held it up.“No Colorado.No Illinois.No Missouri.What other states do you not like?”

Hope flashed through him before his poker face descended.He didn’t want to assume anything.“What are you saying?”

“I choose you, Cross.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

He tenderly cupped her face and smiled.Cross wasn’t a person who believed in happily ever after, but he sure as fuck wasn’t about to flip it the bird.

“You’re so beautiful,” he murmured.“I don’t care where we live, as long as I have you.I have the five grand from the meth house and the ten grand your fake dad gave me.It should be enough to set us up somewhere, until I can figure things out, like a job.”

“I can help too.”

“No,” he said emphatically.“I will take care of you, at least until everything settles down.I ...I have a lot to atone for.”

She lifted a finger and laid it across his lips, silencing him.Then she shifted her hand up until it rested on his forehead.It took only a second to realize what she was doing, and he jerked his head away.

“Didn’t you just hear what I said?”he demanded.

She nodded, then pointed at him before pointing to herself, and she crossed her fingers in a show of unification.

“I don’t want to be the cause of your pain,” he whispered.

Lorelei smiled at him and tugged on his shirt to get him closer.He didn’t stop her this time, as she brushed her fingertips over his forehead.Immediately, tingles danced across the skin she touched, and then suddenly, the screaming in his head stopped.The only other person who had been able to accomplish such a thing had been Vivi Wence, back when he’d been president of the Heart of Darkness MC.When he’d kept her prisoner as a favor to a madman.

He used to think that was the worst mistake of his life, but after meeting Lorelei, maybe what happened was meant to be.Because if that hadn’t happened, he wouldn’t be here right now, with the most perfect woman in the world.Lorelei pulled away and cocked her head, waiting for him to respond.He lifted her hand and kissed the palm before laying it on his cheek.He stared directly into her eyes.

“Thank you,” he whispered.“I took you for a selfish reason, but I can’t watch you suffer anymore.You fought a dangerous fever forme.I’m not worth it.”

She mouthed,you are, and he could no longer keep back the tide of emotions slamming through him.He tenderly curled his hand over her waist, pulling her into his body, and she fit perfectly in his arms.He bent his head, claiming her lips.They were soft, caving to his insistent pressure, opening enough for his tongue to sweep in.Tantalizing.Erotic.How could someone so beautiful and innocent turn him on so quickly?Every other kiss he’d had in his life withered to dust in his memory.And when she wrapped her arms around his neck, when her breasts brushed against his chest, the world faded away.There was only her and him.No one else mattered.He planned to wrap her up in cotton wool and shield her from all the pain in the world.

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