Page 78 of Faithless
The fire burned and consumed me in an explosive release, pulsing through my blood and licking across my skin. Torr spilled more heat inside me with a ragged growl, his body surging as he rode his own pleasure until he carefully lowered himself on top of me.
I was hot, sweaty, and short of breath, but no way was I going to shove him off me. I raked my fingers through his hair, running my nails over his neck and back until he shivered.
In return, Torr traced his index finger over my arm, spelling out three short words.
28
TORRANCE
Iwoke up on that same couch with a Rori-sized blanket draped on top of me. Her dress was gone, discarded sometime between the second and third round we went last night. My eyelids were still heavy with sleep, the best fucking sleep I’d had in nearly a week. I smoothed my hands up and down a long, naked back, the warmth of her skin lulling me back to dreamland.
“Question for you.”
I startled, nearly dropping to the floor. “Jesus, it’s creepy when you wake up and immediately start talking.” Rori did that sometimes when we both crashed at Daren’s house. One minute she was out like a light, the next, she was busting her brother’s nuts for running out of eggs or coffee.
“Shush. I’m perfect, remember?” I felt a kiss on my collarbone and the scrape of a short fingernail circling my nipple. “You couldn’t stop telling me that last night.”
“Mm, perfectly creepy.” I locked my arms around her and brushed a kiss against her forehead while I worked on the whole waking-up thing. “What’s your question?”
“You were never going to tell me how you felt, back home.” I opened my eyes to find her chin propped on my chest, looking straight at me. Her icy contacts were gone and her natural forest green eyes met mine. “I guess I’m just wondering what changed when we got to this place.”
Everything.
I had to pause for a deep breath, fighting the urge to clam up and deflect. Rori and I had broken new ground. To be the man she deserved, I had to be honest with her. Especially when she asked difficult questions.
“Back home…I think I took for granted that you’d always be around. Here, I realized I could actually lose you.”
Rori frowned. “To what?”
“Your gladiator, for one. I dunno, I just kind of had a gut instinct that something would happen. Shake up the life we were used to back home. I thought pushing you away would make it easier to get over you. But,” my hand trailed up her spine to wrap around her shoulders, “it just made me more desperate to keep you.”
“You’re stuck with my creepy ass, Torr.” She returned her cheek to my chest. “I don’t know exactly where things are gonna go with Santos, but he’s worth saving from this place.”
“So’s the Hunter. He seems like an alright guy.” My thumb stroked back and forth on her shoulder as I thought. “I’m willing to bet most of those gladiators are decent, normal dudes forced into bad situations and not all mass rapists or whatever.”
“I’m thinking the same thing.” Rori’s hand made a fist on top of my chest. “And they’re getting them from somewhere, in steady supply. To get killed and abused every day.”
I drummed my fingers on her arm. “As much as I love lying here with you, it’s almost morning. We should’ve left hours ago.”
“Yeah, let’s head out.” Rori sat up, and I reluctantly let my arm fall from her shoulders. “One more question,” she piped up.
“Yes?” I held her waist, obsessed with the heat of her skin and the gorgeous lines and shapes her body made. After only imagining touching her for so long, now I could never get enough.
“Why did you really come with me?”
At least that was easy to answer. “Because I don’t ever want to be without you.”
Rori froze, like that shocked her. Then she leaned down and held my chin as she kissed me. “I know you can’t say it to me right now, and I’ll never pressure you to do so,” she whispered. “But I love you, Torr. I hope you believe me when I say that.”
You’re the only person I’ve allowed myself to fall for. I love you so much it fucking scares me.
The words rang out like a bell in my head, but they never reached my throat. I swallowed, cleared my throat, still nope. There was a complete disconnect from my mind to my mouth, and it pissed me off. Rori deserved to have those words said back to her, but I might not be the man to say them. Despite knowing and feeling the depth of those words for her, it felt like my ability to speak them was on the other side of a vast canyon.
The last time I had said them, I was discarded and left completely alone.
“I do believe you,” I choked out. “I’m sorry I can’t—”
“No, Torr. You have nothing to be sorry for.” Rori held my face, smiling gently as she kissed me again. “Know that I love you. Know you’re enough, and it’ll all be okay.”
