“Don’t do that. Don’t look away.” I tighten my grip, still keeping it gentle, but enough to tip her head back, forcing her to look at me. “Gotta help me out here, freckles. Know it’s been a few days, but—”
“Four days,” she huffs, and I’m shocked to see her eyes gloss over. “But I didn’t… you didn’t…”
She trails off, swallowing hard.
My mind races through an invisible battlefield I can’t quite see, trying to put the pieces together.
I know Georgia is quick to run when shit gets scary. Don’t blame her for it after all she’s been through, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make it hard to navigate whatever…thisis.
To me, what we have between us feels a hell of a lot like the start of something permanent. Something I’ve dreamt about my entire damn life.
Thought she wanted that, too. Thought she felt the same way.
Did I fuck it up already? Get it wrong? Push too hard?
But then her words come tumbling back, the vulnerability on her face, thehurtin her eyes.
Last time I saw her, she was wrapped in my arms, and holding me like she never wanted to let go. And then she left for work, and Aurora showed up, and everything after that was a whirlwind. I’d been so caught up, that I didn’t think to call her…
Fuck.
“I didn’t call you.”
The way she flinches tells me all I need to know.
Cupping her face with both hands, I tilt her neck back and drop my forehead to hers, inhaling the sweet, wild scent that’s all her, and let it calm the chaos still clawing under my skin.
“Saying I’m sorry won’t fix it,” I murmur, brushing her cheek with my thumb, “but I am. I’m sorry, Georgia. I shouldn’t have let it drag on so long without reaching out. That’s on me.”
“No,” she whispers, voice tight and raw as her hands finally leave the counter and grip my wrists hard enough to leave nail imprints. “I’msorry. I let my brain fill up with all sorts of ugly thoughts about what happened between us.” A shaky breath escapes her, but it sounds too close to a sob. “I’d like to say it was a one-off, but it happens a lot with me.”
I press a kiss to her forehead, trying to pour comfort into the contact, trying to stitch together what I’ve unknowingly torn open. “I’m not afraid to fight your demons, Georgia Walker.”
“I’m a lot of work,” she says, like she’s trying to scare me off.
“I’m not afraid of hard work,” I murmur, my lips ghosting her skin. “And you’re worth it.”
Her breath catches, body shivering against me, but the tension in her shoulders doesn’t fade, so I continue, rambling the truth like a madman.
“Wanted to call you the second I woke up to an empty house. Missed you more than I probably should, but I don’t give a fuck.”
“You did?”
I nod, keeping her close. “Wanted to beg your perfect ass to come back and never leave.”
“Kade…”
“It’s true,” I murmur, thumbs tracing the soft skin of her jaw as I pull back far enough to see her eyes. “If I told you all the things I feel where you’re concerned, darlin’, you’d run for the hills and never look back.”
Her tongue drags across her lower lip, slow and sexy, before she breathes out, “Try me.”
And God, it yanks me right back to that day all those weeks ago when I showed her around this very house and she begged me to tell her why I wanted so many rooms.
Meadow eyes flare up at me and for a second, I wonder if she’s thinking of it too. She brought it up while her bare, wet cunt was rubbing my cock the other night, so clearly, my dreams are on her mind as much as they’re on mine.
“You really wanna know?” I ask, my voice rough.
She nods, gaze flicking to my lips and then back to my eyes. “Yes.”
