Page 50 (1/1)

See tosolo here or if maybe, just maybe, you aren’t as immune to s for me buried under all that ani ourselves from the truth of just howher hands beneath the covers so he wouldn’t see how badly shaken she was How his words gave her a ridiculous thrill, and worse, allowed her the forbidden comfort of hope But he wasn’t fooled He wasn’t a man to ever be easily fooled His eyes softened with sothat it was all she could do not to dive into his arms and burrow as deeply beneath him as possible and hide froth and invincibility because Eliza felt anything but invincible right now

"Is it so hard to adentle patience she hadn’t thought him capable of

She could swear she heard hurt and uncertainty in his voice, but that was impossible Wade was made of stone Impenetrable and at times so icy that he couldif not ulti Why would he care how she felt about hi like it ed on her answering hi, she stood to lose ined?

Because he cared for her

She was still shaken by his ads and open himself up to rejection How could she reject hi on the line for her?

He’d laid bare his soul and she’d given hi at all Not even her trust He’d risked everything to co to back down and leave before Thomas discovered his presence And Wade was not a man to ever put himself in a position of vulnerability He was cloaked in shadows, much like herself His past was nebulous and questionable So was his present And yet he’d opened hi hi told her that she

"I feel toofree before she could call them back "There, are you happy? Are you satisfied? Haven’t you taken enough pieces fro left ofher angry protests, her atteles and her tears of helpless rage and frustration "Was that so hard?" he asked gruffly "Baby, I don’t want to take you apart piece by piece I don’t want to take until there’s nothing left Never that, ive I want to put all those pieces back together so you can be whole again So you can be ht noon’t rest until I have all of her back"

"She isn’t there," she said sadly "She’s never been there She isn’t even real She’s a role I’ve played for years while I’ve hidden like a coward from who and what I really am"

"No baby," he denied "You became who you weren’t meant to be And just so you know, you sealed your fate when you told me you didn’t hate ht to protect me because I’m important to you I’m not a patient man in any sense of the word Except when it co for I’ll wait for fucking ever if that’s what it takes, but you’re ive up what is ht So prepare yourself for fucking war Fair warning, I fight dirty and I don’t fight fair I’ll do whatever I have to in order to make you mine"

"I’ to anyone"

The last was said with sadness heavy in her heart Once she would have given anything to have belonged to soiven up those fanciful, unrealistic dreao because they weren’t real Would never be real No aze swept hotly over her naked body, possession glittering in his eyes

"No?" he asked in a dangerously low voice that should have sent her bolting from the bed as fast as possible But the steel bands around her body held her firmly in place "I think perhaps another deh her, but before she could react to his sultry state determination in his eyes that told her she was in way over her head, hisand so very tender that it brought the sting of tears to her eyes

His tongue swept inside herdeep until he tasted her and he was all she could taste She tried to insert her hands between them, to push hi her without words that she wasn’t escaping

She let out a entled and then he feathered his lips over her cheek, down her jawbone and then upward, pressing his mouth tenderly over both eyelids He licked away the tiny evidence of moisture at the corners of her eyes even as his ar her body to his

"You ainst her skin "You matter to a lot of people, but you o now that I’ve finally gotten you where I want you"

He rotated, rolling until he was solidly atop her, his war into her very bones When was the last time she truly felt safe? When was the last time she felt free to justbe? He overwhels he’d attributed to her In his arms she truly felt precious Important Loved

She shook her head in silent denial She wouldn’t--couldn’t--go there No one could ever love her Find her worthy How could they when she knew the truth? When she bore the sins of a lifetime and there would never be absolution for her But God, he made her want Just for a few precious moments, he made her dream of what could have been if she hadn’t made so many mistakes