Page 58 of Only for Love

An audible breath heaves from her lips. I cage her with myself, against the wall, and give her a slip of space. She has two choices: duck and run or hang on tight. It’s all her call. Until I start. Then I’m never stopping.

“Grayson.” Tiny gasps mix with my name. Her fingertips flex, her fingernails digging into my abdomen, then her hands roughly crawl up my torso and clasp around my neck. “Don’t you dare leave me like that again.” Her face is harsh, then she softens.

“Baby.” My hands meet her waist, grasp her sides. I feel her breathing like me. Uneven in cadence and choking on our tension. I touch my lips to her temple, and she quietly gasps, writhing against me. I trail to her ear. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Our foreheads touch. It’s partly sweet but mixed with a needy hunger.

“But…” she whispers.

“Don’t forgive me now.” I drag my lips down her neck. “Later, yeah. Now, no. Just let us happen.”

She nods against my face. I hug her tight then lift her up, heading for the lone couch.

Her eyes close. “There’s so much to… catch up on.”

There’s fear in her voice. All I know to do is hang on. I swallow her up, and when I drop to the couch, she fits in my lap as though she’s supposed to be there. My nose is in her hair, my arms wrapped around her.

“Look at me.”

“No. I don’t trust myself to.” She shakes her head. Silk strands of her hair tease my cheek, but her gaze isn’t on me. “You show up, and we end up in bed. What kind of girl does that make me?”

Easiest answer I’ve had to give all night. “It makes you mine.”

Her eyes flit to mine.

“Not a day went by I didn’t hate myself for what I did. Not a day I didn’t think you weren’t better off without me. I watched every man I served with bleed out. My unit was decimated. I was shot, bleeding out. Dying. And I begged God—begged—to get this moment with you.”

Tears brim in her eyes. “I want to hate you—”

“I’ll get us through that.”

“I want to hate you…” The tears fall, slipping down her cheeks. “Because I still love you.”

Fuck me, my heart squeezes. Everything in my soul hurts. “Emma.”

I’m going to die if I can’t get closer. Her lashes are tear-dampened, her gaze unsure.

My thumbs move over her cheeks. “I’ve always loved you, and that’s why this will work.”

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