Page 65 of Broken Warrior
“Fin,” she gasps, her fingers sliding up my jaw and tangling in my hair. “Fin—”
I suck on her lower lip and smile at the sound she makes.
So goddamn sweet.
So sweet that I have to keep kissing her, the urgent need to kiss her and claim her so strong that I almost forget everything this woman has been through.
Almost.
Tate has only ever been taken; she’s never been truly loved, and I don’t want to do anything she may not be ready for.
Hell, we probably shouldn’t be doing any of this at all, not after a handful of dates and one talk about most of the shit we needed to talk about. Tate might not be ready for anything more than the soft kisses and cuddling we’ve had up until now, mayneverbe ready for anything else, and the last thing I want to do is hurt her bytaking anythingTate might not want to give.
Reluctantly, I break the kiss, close my eyes and blow out a ragged breath. “M’eudail…Tate…”
“Why did you stop?”
“Because…” I open my eyes and my gaze connects with a hooded, glassy galaxy of hazel-blue. “Because you and me, we shouldn’t, not if you aren’t—”
“I’m not scared of intimacy, Fin.” Tate searches my face, a small smile playing across her swollen lips. “I’m scared of Gino and I don’t have to worry about him when I’m with you. Lying in your arms, I’m the safest I’ve ever been.”
Even though the mention of that fucker and how he makes her feel has me ready to hunt that bastard down, I can’t help but feel an immense amount of pride knowing that my girl knows I’ll keep her safe. I will keep them both safe and sooner sacrifice my life for theirs in order to do that.
But still…
“Tate, I’m not sure if we should be doing this…”
“You don’t want to?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Then why stop?”
“Because… well, I just, I don’t want to rush you, don’t want to—”
“Jeopardize our relationship by moving too fast.” Tate smiles softly. “I appreciate that, I do, but considering how long it’s taken us to get to this point and everything we’ve been through in between, I’d say we’ve finally graduated from a snail’s pace to turtle speed.”
I can’t help but chuckle a little at that.
It doesn’t completely cancel out my concerns, but I like that she can make light of a potentially heavy situation. Which is why I open my mouth to voice that, only to be cut off by the woman of my goddamn dreams.
“I know you’re trying to do the right thing, Fin.” Another soft smile as Tate brushes her lips against mine. “I know you’re trying to do right by me because you feel like I’ve been wronged my entire life. And while there’s a lot of truth to that, I know this—me and you—is completely different.” Her fingers toy with my hair as she searches my eyes. “I never had a choice before now, and not just with something like this but with everything in my life. I never had the chance to decide anything for myself, not until I chose to leave, and ever since then I’ve been fighting like hell to keep making my own decisions.”
“Tate… honey, I—”
“You aren’t anything like any of the men I knew before you, Fin. Nothing like the men who made decisions for me and took away my freedom. You’ve proved that time and time again, and not only did you show me that I could be strong and independent, you showed me that even people like that sometimes don’t have a choice anyway.”
I frown at that because fuck, I really hope I’ve never treated her like that asshole she was living with has. Something Tate clearly picks up on because she smiles and tightens her hold on me.
“It wasn’t a conscious decision to fall in love with you, Fin, but it happened anyway. It happened because of everything you are as a man, as a good man who has been fighting his own battles for years. My heart was going to belong to you no matter what and I had absolutely no say in that.” Tate arches a brow as I open then quickly close my mouth, successfully stopping another response. “Short of James, you are the best thing to ever happen to me and that’s all thanks to what fate had in store, but I’m taking my life back, which means I’m calling the shots now. So, if I say that I’m ready to be intimate with you in a way I’ve never been intimate with anyone, then you have to trust that. You have to trustme.”
“I do,” I say quickly so she doesn’t stop me again. “I do trust you, Tate.”
“Then trust me enough to know that I’m one hundred percent ready to fool around withmyboyfriend onmycouch inmyhome at six-thirty in the morning before the little boy we both love wakes up and interrupts us.”
I chuckle and shake my head. “Fool around?You’re something else,m’eudail.”
“Something else entirely, baby.” Tate grins as I dip my head and kiss her slowly. “And you love it.”
