Page 75 of Unrest
“You what?” His voice was deeper than usual, filled with something I’d never heard from him before, something he’d held back from me until this moment: power, strength, and something that sounded unmistakably like . . . lust. He stared at me so hard I could scarcely make myself continue.
“I want you.” It was out of me like the push of a powerful tide. There was no controlling it, no taking it back.
He came at me with two panther-like strides until he was hovering over me, forcing me to walk backward until my legs bumped the bed.
“Finally,” he breathed, almost angrily, and then his mouth was on mine, his hand cradling the back of my head with firm ownership as his other hand slid around my back and yanked me to him.
A sound somewhere between a moan and a cry rose from deep within me at the feel of his lips and hands. I clutched him around his back, grasping. My mind abandoned all sense of politeness and I raised a knee as if I might climb him. He grabbed my ass with both hands and I held on tight as he lifted me and laid me on the bed with a bounce, then climbed above me and lowered his hips.
“Rylen . . .” Was this real?
His body was flush against mine, his weight rousing a glorious heat that spread out from my core. This was definitely real, and we were needy, so needy. My calves wrapped around the back of his thighs as our mouths moved together, his warm tongue tasting me. When he lifted his face and rested his forehead against mine, we were both panting for air.
My chest rose and fell, feeling like my heart had exploded in a shower of stars.Rylen is in my arms.I let out a laugh of surprised disbelief.
“I can’t believe this is happening,” I said against his mouth.
“Neither can I,” he breathed.
He lowered his face to mine and kissed me again, this one long and slow. Then he kept his lips close to mine as he said, “I half thought you were coming here to tell me you didn’t mean it. It took all my will-power not to go to you today and get it over with so I could quit obsessing.”
Him obsessing over me? “You’re crazy!” My laugh sounded maniacal. “I’ve wanted this for years.”
“Years?” he asked skeptically. “How ‘bout when I came home that summer you turned seventeen and you were all of a sudden a damn woman? You got pissed when I tried to kiss you.”
We’d been over this. “I wasn’t mad at you. I was mad at Tater for interrupting us. And it was me who tried to kiss you.”
He chuckled, shaking his head. “Not how I remember it.”
“You were drunk.” My turn to smile.
Regret filled his eyes. “I wish you would’ve told me.”
Holy freaking crap. “I tried! I gave you alotof hints.”
He turned his head to the side, smiling bashfully. “For future reference, men need things spelled out. Hints don’t work.”
“Well, that’s really inconvenient.”
“Yeah, well, you didn’t exactly catch on to my hints either,” he said. “I almost kissed you outside at that cabin.”
“What? Once again, I was the one who almost kissed you!”
He shook his head. “I felt like an asshole for thinking about you when . . .” When Livia had just died. I ran my hand over his cheek.
“You’re not an asshole. You never were, and you aren’t now.”
He moved a lock of hair from my face. “I hate to say it, but I probably wouldn’t have let us get involved before, when you were younger, even if you had told me how you felt. I always knew you were destined for something bigger. I would’ve felt like I was holding you back.”
There it was. I shook my head and let myself run my hands up the short hair at the back of his head. “You always thought that about yourself, Ry, that you weren’t good enough, but you were wrong. We can do big things, together.”
Ry grinned softly down at me. “The past is the past, okay, Pepper? I never want you to be afraid to tell me something again.”
“Or you.”
“Or me.”
I nodded, feeling his hair slide between my fingers. Emotions welled up inside of me. After all this time, here we were, holding each other like it was the most natural thing ever. Like there hadn’t been years of no-touching-tension between us up until two minutes ago. It was surreal.
