Page 54 of Tank
Silence.
Then Tank steps closer, lowering his voice. "I was ready to take Victor apart tonight." I swallow hard. "But I didn’t," he continues. "Because that’s not what you would have wanted." I stare up at him, my throat tightening. "And what you want matters to me."
I don’t even think; I just reach for him, pull him down, and kiss him. It’s instinctive, the way my hands grab hold of him, that need to pull him as close as possible, as if being apart for even a second is unbearable. I want to dive headfirst into the warmth of him, the certainty, the space where nothing else exists but this crazy, terrifying, wonderful thing between us. His lips meet mine with a raw intensity that sends everything spinning, makes every bit of sense fall away.
He meets me halfway, his lips firm and warm, his beard rough against my skin. His hands find my waist, strong.
His touch is magnetic, drawing me ever closer, making me forget the air that surrounds us. I sink into him, let the moment take me. Let him take me.
And I surrender. To him. To every warm, scary impulse that pounds through my thundering heart.
When we break apart, his forehead rests against mine, our breaths mingling.
"I don’t know what to do with you," I whisper.
He chuckles. "That makes two of us."
I exhale a soft laugh, shaking my head. "You’re the most surprising, kind-hearted, terrifying baker I’ve ever met."
"I’ll take that as a compliment."
I let my hands drift down his chest, feeling the solid strength beneath my fingertips. "I care about you," I say, voice barely above a whisper. "And that’s… hard for me."
His arms tighten around me. "Why?"
I lick my lips, hesitating. Weighing my thoughts. Weighing the truth. Words that flash through my mind, that scare me, that feel best left unsaid in this moment. How do I tell the man who I might love that the reason I’m hesitating is because I’ve spent my whole life running from men like him? But with him, I feel safe, and it scares the hell out of me.
Tank watches me carefully. His gaze never wavers, his eyes dark and intense. Almost like he sees right through me, as if there’s nothing I can hide. Like he sees every one of my fears, the things I keep locked away inside me, even the pieces I haven't yet learned to face.
"Where’d you just go?" he murmurs. "In your head?"
His question lingers. I meet his gaze, his searching eyes, and make my choice. It spills out of me, unstoppable. "I was thinking it’s time you and I go somewhere private."
His expression changes, a flicker of surprise in his steady, unwavering face. “Why’s that?” he asks, curiosity laced in his rough voice.
My resolve tightens like a coil ready to spring. "Because I love you and I want to show it."
His lips part slightly, like he wasn’t expecting that. He looks like he might say something, but I don’t give him the chance. I grab his shirt, pull him close, and kiss him again—deeper, harder, pouring everything into it. All the heat and need that’s been simmering between us for days, all the emotions that I’ve kept hidden behind fear. His hands find their way to my hips, drawing me flush against him. The warmth of his body is so familiar now, so consuming, like a fire we can’t control. His lips leave mine and meet my ear.
“I love you, too.”
His words are enough to set me spinning, enough to make my heart pound. They’re words I’ve feared, words I’ve craved, and now that I have them, they burn through me like wildfire.
I breathe them in, as if they could sustain me, as if they could take away all the fear and doubt. "I love you and I need you. Now."
I know, in that moment, without a doubt, that I just crossed a line I can never come back from.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Bianca
We drive so fast to his cabin that between my fatigue and our speed, the world outside is a blur. My heart burns with need, with fear, with love, an intoxicating combination that leaves me feeling as if I’m outside my body, looking down at myself, unable to determine if I’m living a dream or a nightmare. Maybe both.
I love Tank.
Yet that very concept scares me.
Am I loving him to lose myself? Am I loving him to escape?
