Page 18 of Big Forbidden Blacksmith

“Knox—”

As he comes inside me with a shout, I feel his release spill within me. As if he has no strength left, he carefully drops to the floor with me in his arms, his spent cock still inside me. I tremble against his chest as we both breathe for a moment.

“I love you,” Knox says raggedly, holding me tight.

With a sigh of contentment, I lift my head and kiss his scarred cheek. “I love you, too.”

Chapter 8

Knox

“How did you get the scar on your face?”

I look up and our eyes connect, her pale blue eyes watching me curiously.

“An accident at work, rookie mistake. I’ve learned to be careful since,” I say. Her body is practically swimming in my flannel shirt, and the sight makes my cock twitch with interest. I’ve lost count of the times we’ve fucked since I came to her studio, but something tells me I’ll never get enough of her.

“I like it,” she says to me shyly.

She turns back to her canvas, her focus sharp as her gaze flits between me and the painting. When she said she wanted to paint a new portrait of me, surrounded by art she’s worked on before, I gave in to her request. I just didn’t think she meant right this second.

I can’t complain. Getting to watch her work like this is something I never expected to enjoy this much. Then again, I never expected to want her as much as I do. I’m sure she’ll always find a way to blow my expectations out of the water.

There was no way I could have ever been prepared to be enchanted with a person like this.

As she works, I think about the past few days. My search for her had been fervent. The first location that Ethan managed to isolate for her was the Blackwell Ranch, which checked out with what she’d told me when I’d found her. But then he’d called me back when I was halfway there, patching into the emergency satellite phone I keep in my truck, saying that he’d found some transactions on a card in her name. It looked like she was headed back to the city.

And now I’m here, in her studio. The city isn’t something I’ve missed. Everything moves faster, looks brighter, seems bigger. I like open skies and fresh air, not the overwhelming buzz of traffic. It’s all worth it now that she’s mine.Shewas worth it all.

As much as I wish she’d never left, I think it helped show us both what we mean to each other. It was scary for both of us to feel so much so fast, but now that we’ve reunited, the world feels right again. Yeah, maybe I still catch myself thinking she deserves someone better, someone less rough around the edges than I am, but if I’m not good enough, no one else is.

And she chose me, in the end, just like I chose her. Who am I to argue with that?

“Do you need to take a break?” Lara asks after a little while.

“I’m good,” I say, though I could probably use one. The very act of ignoring the way my dick wants to get hard under her gaze is exhausting. I’m a grown man, you’d think I’d know how to control myself. Something about her just makes me a little unhinged.

It could be the fact that I’m touch starved from all my time alone … Or it could just be that I’ve craved her touch from the moment I first felt it.

“I want to go back with you,” Lara suddenly says. I blink at her, unsure I heard her correctly.

“What?”

“Well …” Her eyes are on the canvas but she’s stopped painting. A flush starts to creep across her face. “I was thinking … I”

I rise from the stool she’s posed me on, ignoring my state of undress, and walk to her. I pull her into my arms, letting her scent and the smell of her paint wash over me.

“Tell me, Lara,” I murmur into her hair.

“I’m selfish.”

“How so?”

“I know I said I wouldn’t run anymore, but I don’t want to lose you, you know? And I can’t bear the thought of making you leave your dad’s home. I just … I feel so invisible in the city sometimes. And If I feel like that, I can’t imagine how being here might make you feel..”

“Do you mean it? You want to come live with me?”

She lifts her head from my bare chest and looks up at me, eyes glistening. “I do. Maybe we eventually end up splitting our time between there and here, but right now, I want to be with you out there. Just us and Bear.”

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