Page 89 of Mistletoe and Malice
She pulled back, her hands skimming down his arms until they joined his. “What are you talking about? You were right there.”
“But I was watchingyou.”
“Isn’t that your job?”
His hands squeezed hers. “My job is to watchoutfor you. Big difference. And Pax ended up taking the bullet, not me.”
“Would you have taken a bullet for me?”
“In a heartbeat.”
“Because it’s your job.”
His eyes filled with moisture as the silence lingered, their gazes locked. “No.” The huskiness of his voice sent tingles along her spine. “Because it’s you.”
Bringing his hand to her cheek, he brushed away a tear with his thumb before lowering his face to within a breath of hers. A pause, then the softest, tenderest of touches as his mouth found hers. A moment of discovery, of letting go. An excruciating sweetness before he angled his head to take a bit more.
Riley brought her hands to his chest and gathered his sweatshirt in her fists to bring herself closer. The pull, the longing, increased, and their arms found their way around each other.
Riley had never experienced such comfort in a man’s embrace. Had never felt more at home.
Could she hope to live there forever?
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Better than he’d ever dreamed.
Colton had imagined this countless times. Imagined holding Riley close, his arms wrapped around her. Their first kiss and all the kisses after that. The images permeated his sleep, popped into his day at times when his mind needed to be on other things. No matter how hard he’d fought it. Tried to keep his growing feelings for her in check.
All his efforts turned to dust the second he pulled her close. He hadn’t kissed a woman in years, yet this kiss felt like … home. As if this weren’t their first.
But it was. His first with Riley. The woman who claimed more and more of his heart, his soul, every day, every hour he spent with her.
She rose up on her toes, pressing closer, and he thought he’d combust with a yearning for more. But before things could go somewhere they shouldn’t, somewhere they couldn’t, he let the kiss soften until he pulled away and put his forehead to hers.
“Riley …” He hardly recognized his voice, thick as it was with the release of everything he’d kept locked inside.
“Don’t say you’re sorry, Cole.” Her hands framed his neck. “Please, please don’t say you’re sorry.”
“I’m not sorry, sweetheart. But, Riley, we need to get some control here.” He took a breath, their foreheads still pressed together. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been with anybody this way.” He pulled back, her hands slipping to his chest as his came to her face. “And this probably isn’t the best time. Emotions are … high tonight.”
“Maybe.” She peered deep into his eyes, her own shining with tears and something more. Something he’d never expected to see in another’s ever again. “But I don’t regret it. Not for a second. It’s not as if I haven’t dreamed about it a hundred times.”
He chuckled before giving her another soft kiss. “You’re not alone there.”
Taking her by the hand, he led her to the sofa and pulled her close to his side, her knees drawn up as she snuggled into him. How could this feel so natural, so familiar, considering they’d never had an intimate moment?
“Stay with me a while?”
“For as long as you need me.”
“And I’ll be here for you.” Her head burrowed into the crook of his neck, and he laid his cheek against her silky hair.
“You already have been. You brought me back to the Lord, Ri. I’d walked so far away, I couldn’t even hear Him anymore. Until you showed me the way.”
“Oh, I don’t know.” She brushed her hand over her face. “It seemed to me you were searching for a way back. I prayed for you every day and left you in His hands.”
“But you reminded me how much He loves me. And that He loved Theresa enough … enough to heal her. Even if it wasn’t on this side of heaven, she is healed. And until you painted the picture for me of her living happy and whole with the Lord, Ihadn’t realized how selfish I’d been, wishing she were here on this broken planet with me rather than in heaven with God.”
