Page 34 of The Only Heart that Matters

“What?”

Chapter Fifteen

Angus

“What?”

The champagne may have helped me find the courage to follow her out here, but the intoxication flowing through my veins is all Mia. To finally have her in my arms. My lips on hers. It’s like a damn dream come true.

I know she’s confused, and as wrong as this may be, I can’t hold back anymore. I want her to know how I feel, even if I know it won’t change anything, and in the end, we can never be.

Placing a kiss over her heart, I pull back, so I have her full attention and fuck me if her parted lips, swollen from our kisses and the rise and fall of her chest aren’t the sexiest fucking thing.

“Mia, you’ve been in my head since I was eighteen, watching you and my sister leave for prom. I’ve known since that day nobody would ever compare to you and they haven’t. But shit, that was before this. Before I had tasted you. Now, there’s no saving me.”

My lips collide with hers again, craving another taste, because I’ll never get enough.

Never.

“I know I don’t deserve you,” I say against her lips. “But it doesn’t stop me from wanting you.”

Her eyes grow wide, like she’s about to flee just before she says, “I can’t.”

Cupping her exquisite ass with both of my hands, I pull her against me so she can feel what she’s doing to me. “Why? Why can’t we have one night together?”

“Angus, you don’t know what you’re asking for. There are things you don’t know.”

Her head hangs, and she looks down in what looks like shame. And that just won’t do.

I lift her chin with my finger. “Do you want me even half as bad as I want you, Mia?”

From the moment my question is out on the icy air, the wait for her answer is excruciating.

When she nods her head up and down, the stranglehold my ribs had on my lungs eases and I can breathe again.

“There is nothing you could tell me that would ever change the way I feel about you. Trust me, I have my own demons, Mia. Demons that would have you running. But I’m a selfish man.”

A snowflake lands on her eyelash, and I lean forward to kiss it away. Her eyes stay closed for a heartbeat before she opens them again. Unfortunately, her uncertainty remains.

“I know we can never be because if you knew the real me, you wouldn’t want anything to do with me. But, god dammit if I don’t still need to have you this one time. You can keep your secrets and I’ll keep mine, but let’s give each other what we both want.”

“What about Daisy? Our families?”

“What about us? You and me? Don’t you think we deserve to know just how bright we might burn together?”

Her body answers for her when her hands wrap around my neck, fingernails gently gliding over my head. Like she wants this.

Wants us.

Like she wants to know just how bright we might burn.

My hands move up and down her back before sliding over her ass. My need for her is so intense, so distracting, it takes a moment for me to realize she’s freezing. Her entire body is shaking, and it isn’t simply a result of the off-the-charts chemistry between us. She may have her coat on, but her dress is thin, and she’s in heels.

Adjusting my hold, I wrap an arm around her waist and bend so I can position my other behind her legs, lifting her into my arms. She doesn’t protest. Instead, she wraps her arms around me and buries her face in my neck.

As I walk us through the snow to the horse barn, she kisses my neck and nibbles at my ear, keeping the flame burning as we trek through the snowy night. And if I didn’t care about her so damn much, I would lay her down in the snow and take her right here and now. But somehow, I make it to the barn and into the tack room.

It’s not where I imagined it would happen, but it’s the best I’ve got.

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