A rim of light blazed at the edge of the horizon as the day sank away. The twinkling lights that were strung between the buildings sparked to life and spilled in through the bank of windows that overlooked Kale’s balcony and the bustling city below, casting his loft in a warm glow.

Or maybe the warm glow was actually radiating from Evan and Kale where they sat facing each other on the expansive plush rug on the floor.

We’d just finished eating pizza, our bellies satisfied and full.

I watched them from where I was curled up on the same couch, in the very spot Kale had undone me yesterday afternoon.

God, that seemed like a lifetime ago. Another world. As if a stake had been driven into time, segmenting and dividing it, giving us a new direction and a new day.

A new chance.

A chance that maybe the three of us could become one.

A rush of nerves streaked my spine. Hope and a niggle of fear. Because Kale and I were moving fast. So fast that I was still struggling to wrap my mind around the fact I’d given myself to him last night.

Fully.

Wholly.

But somehow, despite everything that was going against us, every worry and every complication, I knew this beautiful man with that huge, magnificent heart was meant for me.

Because there he sat, grinning at my son, his right hand lifted as he attempted to copy the sign language letters Evan was trying to teach him.

“Like this?” he asked aloud, concentrating and still getting it horribly wrong.

Emotion pulsed in my chest, lost to the adorableness of it all. The man, who was larger than life and seemed as if he could accomplish anything, couldn’t seem to manage to get his fingers to cooperate.

Evan rapidly shook his head and reached out and tried to move Kale’s hand into the correct position.

Like that, Evan mouthed.

Kale’s hand curled into some kind of deformed ball as he struggled to keep the position. “Got it!”

I bit back my amusement at his fumbling because he so didn’t have it. Honestly, it seemed downright absurd, considering I knew firsthand the type of magic those fingers could evoke.

Evan laughed that scraping sound. I could feel the echo of it ripple across the wooden floor. Joy and life. Vigorously, Evan shook his head while he leaned over to write on his notepad, all too eager to hold it up for Kale to see.

“What?” Kale defended playfully. He sent me a roguish wink that made my tummy tumble before he let his expression wind into a goofy face that he directed at my son. “What are you talking about? That was perfect. I mean, how hard can making an ‘A’ be?”

Evan wrote some more.

In mock horror, Kale’s mouth dropped open. “Hey, I thought you told me the first time I met you that you were going to let me try to keep up with you?”

Evan’s little hand flew across the page.

“And you think you’re too fast for me?”

A downpour of love flooded me as I watched Kale interact with my child. These overpowering, stunning emotions hitting me from every side.

They were feelings that were foreign, though, I intrinsically knew I’d been missing them all along.

Emphatically, Evan nodded, grinning big enough to fill the room.

“Oh, little man, you better run, because I’m about to show you just how fast I am,” Kale warned.

Evan’s eyes widened in both surprise and delight, and he scrambled to his feet at the same second Kale leapt to his. Evan darted across the living room and Kale was hot on his heels.

Always just missing him as they zigzagged and weaved.

Evan’s sock covered feet slid on the slick floor as he rounded the island in the kitchen and came running back for me, arms thrown above his head and face tipped toward the ceiling, silent laughter pouring free.

I stretched my arms out for Evan. “Hurry, Evan. Mom’s home base!” I called.

Right before Evan made it to me, Kale scooped him up from behind and tossed Evan onto his back, galloping around the room with him, Kale’s deep laughter ricocheting against the walls.

Both of them were smiling these smiles that blasted through me.

So wide.

So happy.

So right.

I pressed my palm over my mouth. Overcome. Because I’d had no idea I’d wanted this so much.

No true idea how much I’d been lacking until Kale had filled that vacant place. I had to wonder how much my son had been lacking, too. I’d spent years trying to compensate. To fill all the holes Dane’s rejection had to have carved into his innocent spirit.

Suddenly, I hungered for it, this feeling of completeness that took me over and set me free when Kale looked at me that certain way.

As if I were his everything and he would always crave more.

Added and multiplied to that was the way he treated my son.

Accepting his disability and still acting as if it weren’t there to begin with.

Adoring him in spite of it.

Loving him because of it.

Love.

Is that what shone when Kale grinned up at my son, holding him in the security of his arms and still allowing him to fly?

“Got you,” Kale sang.

Evan kicked and flailed and laughed before Kale settled him on his feet and ruffled his fingers through my son’s mess of red, red hair.

Somehow, I understood exactly the way Kale felt in that moment. Evan was eight, yet still so vulnerable. I always had this incredible urge to pick him up and hold him. Protect him forever and never allow anything to happen to him.

I could see the exact same feeling written all over Kale’s face.

Evan began to frantically sign, hands flying in front of him.

Kale looked over at me for help, and a shiver raked across my flesh when the power of his gaze landed on me.

“He said you’re stronger than Superman,” I told him, trying to keep the needy tremor from my voice.

Kale chuckled and looked back at Evan. “Superman, huh? My goddaughter, Frankie Leigh, would argue with you. She insists I’m Captain America.”

Evan signed again.

“He wants to know who she is,” I said, emotion tightening my throat.

Kale widened his eyes in emphasis. “Wonder Woman, of course.”

Evan grinned, his own eyes going wide with excitement. This conversation had definitely taken a turn down Evan alley.

WHO AM I? he signed and mouthed at the same time.

“That’s a no brainer. You’ve got to be The Hulk. Smart as a whip and look at these muscles.”

Kale squeezed Evan’s tiny bicep.

Evan’s whole body rocked with his glee, and he forced out the rasping words, as if he couldn’t hold back his praise. “Dr. Bryant.”

Slowing, Kale’s gaze turned tender. “What do you say you start calling me Kale instead of Dr. Bryant?”

Affection burst in my chest.

Evan signed quickly, his head cocked to the side with the question.

“He asked if that’s because you’re his friend now.” My words were choppy.

A warm smiled pulled to Kale’s lips, something so genuine and sincere. “Yeah, buddy, because you’re my friend. Because I care about you.”

Evan signed, OKAY, beaming at the man who continued to weave himself deeper and deeper into my skin.

Into my heart.

“Good,” Kale said as if what he’d just done didn’t matter all that much. “I think it’s movie time. What do you say we put us on some superheroes, and we can decide exactly which we are? I have just about every Marvel movie ever made.”

YES! Evan signed, giving a little fist pump in the air.

A small giggle fluttered from my lips, but my tone was coated with the emotion that gathered thick. “Careful, Evan won’t ever want to leave.”

My insides fluttered when he began to stalk toward me.

Potent.

Powerful.

Persuasive.

That was what the man looked like. Persuasion and dominance and sex.

Most of all, right then, he looked like he was mine.

I sucked in a breath when he leaned over me, his mouth coming to my ear. “Maybe that’s my intention.”

“Don’t say things you don’t mean,” I whispered.

He pulled back and stared down at me, those blue eyes intense. “What if I do?”

That crazy attraction I felt around him climbed to the air. This time fuller. Denser. Brimming with more.

So badly that I wanted to lean forward so I could press my mouth to his.

Touch him and claim him as mine.

But we’d decided to take it slow in front of Evan. Working him into the idea of us, especially since Kale and I hadn’t quite established what that meant.

But it was Kale who pushed it further, inching closer, the words a breathy murmur that sent a shiver down my spine. “I can’t wait to be inside you again. I’ve been dying to touch you since the second you walked through my door. Second I get the chance? You’re mine.”

Oh.

Butterflies scattered in my belly and desire pooled. There was nothing I could do but press my thighs together.

Kale edged back with a smirk. “That’s what I thought, Princess.”

As if he hadn’t just made my knees knock, he stood straight and shifted his attention back to Evan.

“So, what movie do you want to watch?” Kale asked. He grabbed the remote, flicked on his big television, and switched it to the long list of his downloaded movies.

He hadn’t been joking when he said he had about every Marvel movie ever made.

Boys.

Evan grabbed his pad.

An affectionate chuckle rumbled from Kale. “You are just full of all kinds of rules, aren’t you, little man?”

Contentment seeped into my pores.

More so than I’d ever been.

Darkness swam through Kale’s loft, broken by the flickers and flashes from the television as the movie played on.

We were on the second Avengers movie, and my son lay across Kale’s couch, still facing the screen, his breaths soft snores as he slept the movie away.

His head was on Kale’s lap and Kale was running his fingers through his hair.

I was on the other side of Kale, curled up so I could rest on his shoulder.

He pressed his lips to my temple, his voice a rough murmur. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

Shifting to face him more, I peered at him through the shifting light. “I’m so glad I’m here.”

He traced his nose down the curve of my jaw. “You’d better be.”

A tiny moan left me when he kissed down the slope of my neck. “Is that so?”

I could feel his grin against my skin. “You know it’s so.”

“Stalker,” I whispered with a smile fluttering at my lips, the word nothing but affection.

“Knight, Princess. Knight. After last night, tell me I get to be your king.”

My head tilted back, and the smile that had been threatening lit in a full bloom. “Hmm . . . I don’t know,” I teased, my fingers twining in his soft hair.

“Ouch, Princess. You know exactly where to hit a man where it hurts, don’t you?” It was all mischief on his tongue as he kissed and nipped. “I guess you don’t need me after all.”

A giggle slipped free before I pulled back and cupped his face, sincerity weaving into my tone. “Yesterday was terrifying, Kale, and somehow . . . somehow you turned it into the best night of my life.”

Those soulful eyes glinted in the light, his throat bobbing as he swallowed. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt the way I felt last night,” he admitted his voice gruff.

I tucked my bottom lip between my teeth before I asked, “What are we doing, Kale?”

His fingertips fluttered across my cheek. “I think we’re needing each other.” He blinked. “I had no idea I needed anyone or anything until I met you.”

And that need . . .

I could feel it compounding and expanding and shifting.

Restoring.

“Stay with me tonight,” he said.

My gaze moved to my sleeping son. “I don’t think he’s ready for that yet. Plus, I need to be up early to get to the shop in the morning, and Evan has his summer program.”

The words flooded out like excuses I didn’t want to have. But they were there, and they were real.

“I have a guest room. You both can sleep in there. I just want you near me. I need to know you’re safe. I have to be at work early, too. I’ll wake you first thing.”

“This is getting so very complicated.”

A grin tweaked his striking face. Goodness, no man should be that pretty. It just wasn’t fair.

“I promise that if you stay, I’m going to take you in my room and really complicate you.”

Oh, and neither was that. Not at all.

Desire exploded in the air.

Hot, heated energy.

But it was bigger than ever before.

Because I could feel it.

The love that shined all around me.

Powerfully. Brilliantly.

But looking at Kale? I was too scared to let it escape from my tongue. Afraid to put it out in the world. I knew once I said it, it was going to ring so true that I’d never be able to hear anything else.

“Stay with me,” he coaxed in that magnetic way.

There was nothing I could do but relent. I guessed I’d been relenting all along. Giving and giving because I couldn’t stay away. Last night, I’d fully succumbed. I should know any reservations would be futile.

“Okay,” I whispered.

“Need me after all, huh, Princess?” That tease was back.

“I think I’ll always need you,” I murmured.

A soft smile fluttered across his sexy mouth, before he shifted around so he didn’t disturb Evan. He climbed to his feet and carefully pulled my little boy into the well of his arms.

Kale hugged him to his chest.

And it spun and spun.

The love that whipped through the room like a hurricane.

The strength of it was so massive that a slice of terror cut through my center.

Awed by its beauty and intimidated by its force.

Kale started for the hall, and I climbed to my feet and followed him through the darkness.

Angling Evan a bit, he dipped down so he could turn the knob.

The room was obviously reserved for guests. The ceiling high, coffered and finished with crown molding and massive windows that overlooked the city beyond.

A rustic, four-poster bed, covered in plush, luxurious bedding, sat against the right wall.

Kale went right for it, dragging down the covers and nestling my son in its safety. He ran his fingers through Evan’s hair and pressed a tender kiss to the top of his head.

Evan sighed and sank into the comfort.

I swore that I felt the ground shake beneath my feet, felt the tangle of emotion lodge in my throat.

Tears threatened to strangle me.

Overwhelming. The way Kale’s aura was suddenly everything. Wisps that wound.

Vapor.

Kale headed back my way, the softest kiss pressed to my cheek. “Hold on one second, I’ll be right back.”

He slipped by me, disappearing for a few moments into his bedroom before he returned with a baby monitor. “I have this for Rex’s kids. I know Evan’s not a baby, but it will make me feel better that we can hear him if he wakes up and needs us. I set up the speaker in my room.”

And that love?

That was the moment it shattered me.

He plugged in the monitor and then slowly moved back toward me. He threaded his fingers through mine and led me back into the hall, leaving the door open a crack.

A breath jutted free when he shifted and moved toward me. My back hit the opposite wall of the hall.

He pushed his fingers into my hair, his nose back to running along my jaw. “I haven’t even gotten to kiss you yet. I’ve been going out of my mind thinking about last night. About you spread out under me. Your sweet body. Want to get lost in it, Hope. Get lost in you.”

A whimper left me, and I fisted my hands into his T-shirt. “I will never forget feeling you for the first time . . . the way it felt the moment you took me.”

That piece that would always belong to him.

He lightly swept his lips across mine.

Fire.

I swore that one brush was all it took for this man to set me on fire.

My phone blipped from my back pocket.

Kale dropped his forehead to mine. “Someone has awful timing.”

“Whoever it is can wait because I’m not sure I can.”

A sexy chuckle rumbled from his chest. “Ah . . . there she is . . . my little vixen hiding under all that sweet. I love it when she comes out to play.”

My phone blipped again.

“Shit.” He pulled back, those blue eyes glimmering, hovering somewhere between playfulness and lust. “If that’s Jenna, you’d better get it.”

The smallest laugh jolted free. “Don’t tell me you’re afraid of my best friend.”

A smirk ticked up at one side of that delicious mouth. “Not scared. Terrified. You know she threatened to cut off my dick.”

“No,” I wheezed, embarrassment riding to my face.

She had no shame.

Kale ran a thick lock of my hair between his thumb and forefinger, flirty play moving across his features. “It is my best asset. I don’t think I can risk it . . . for your sake.”

He grinned one of those earth-shattering grins. The kind that was cocky and arrogant and did funny things to my insides.

Heat flashed to my face, flutters lighting in my belly and making my hands tremble. I fumbled to reach for my phone, the words a wisp. “You’re ruinin’ me, Kale Bryant.”

He nuzzled under my chin, leaving a trail of kisses across the sensitive skin. “Oh, baby, trust me, I plan on it.”

Oh God.

This man.

I quickly slipped my thumb across my screen, sure Kale was right and it was Jenna checking on us. Hell, knowing her, she was probably wanting a play by play.

When I saw what was on the screen, it was instant. The way fear cinched down on my chest like the tightest band and sickness clawed at my spirit.

Nausea churned in my gut.

Kale edged back, eyes slanted down so he could read me in the darkness. “What’s wrong?”

Anxiety climbed my throat, clotting and suffocating. I tried to force it down. Play it off. “It’s just my ex.”

Anger.

In a flash, it had taken Kale hostage. His entire being vibrated with rage.

Fierce and brutal and savage.

His voice was grit. “What does he want?”

I had a feeling if I told him the whole truth, he would go flying out the door. Set on destruction. Intent on crushing anything that might stand as a threat to Evan or me.

But I couldn’t hide this from him. Not when I’d already dragged him into the middle of it. I turned my phone toward him so he could see what it said.

Fury.

It ignited on Kale’s face.

Kerosene.

This was not a knight dressed in shining, unblemished armor. Not the kind fairy tales were made of.

This was the kind that filled history books.

The kind that fought to the death for what they believed was right.

Kale pressed a fist to the wall at the side of my head as if he was barely holding on, coming unhinged, words gravel as they scraped from his throat. “I want to erase him, Hope. I want to hunt him down and destroy him. Make sure he can never hurt you or Evan. Not ever again.”

“I hate him,” I admitted over the clot of horror and fear bottled like acid in my chest.

Kale dropped his forehead to mine, this time in a tortured, rattled rage. “Who is he?”

I blinked, pressed my mouth to the roar of his heart that pounded through his shirt. “You can’t do something crazy, Kale. You can’t. You have to trust me that I’m doing everything to end this and end it for good.”

I’d already gotten myself in deep enough without drawing more attention.

I needed to do this quietly and swiftly.

And God, I wanted to tell Kale, admit it all. But he was still Evan’s doctor, and I wasn’t sure I could risk putting him in that position.

Endanger him that way.

It wasn’t fair.

It wasn’t right.

So instead, I pushed my phone into my back pocket and wound my hands back into the fabric of Kale’s shirt. Clinging to him. Hoping he could hear the beat of truth in my words.

“I’ll do whatever it takes to keep him away from my son. But the next months are going to be difficult. I’m up for the greatest fight of my life. I need you to know, I will do anything, sacrifice anything, to make sure I win that fight.”

I was gathering evidence.

Each text.

Each message.

Each threat.

My attorney was sure that would be all the proof of abuse we needed. The callousness and carelessness.

Kale groaned, as if it caused him pain. “And what if I want to be the one to do it? Protect him. Save him.” His big hand slid to my face. “Save you.”

My words were a breath. “You’re already savin’ me. In so many ways.”

Kale groaned again. But this time, it was in need. “God damn it, Hope. God damn it, what have you done to me?”

His mouth slanted over mine.

Commanding.

Demanding all of me.

Tangles of tongue and nips of teeth.

He didn’t break the kiss when he hoisted me from my feet and pressed me deeper against the wall, his hands on the outsides of my thighs as he made a place for himself between my legs.

He rubbed himself at my center, his cock hard, as desperate as his touch.

I ached and whimpered, my fingers sinking into his shoulders. As if I might be able to hold on to him forever. “Kale.”

“I won’t let him hurt you. I won’t. Not you or Evan. You’re mine.”

Need tumbled through me. A raging storm.

This man too much.

Too perfect.

He pulled me from the wall and carried me the rest of the way down the hall and through the double doors at the end of it. He stepped inside, nudged the door shut with his foot, and fumbled to click the lock behind him.

He pulled back, staring up at me as he carried me into the center of the enormous, darkened room, the only light filtering in through the wall of sliding doors that overlooked the city below.

His room luxury and peace and comfort.

Masculine.

Sexy.

That was what I felt when he kneaded his big hands into my bottom, kissing me again and murmuring, “I’m losing myself.”

I framed his face in my hands. “And I’m finding myself.” He carried me toward his bed, which was massive and imposing, just like the man. Slowly, he slid me down his body, my feet unsteady when he set me on the floor.

He pressed a hand on either side of my neck, and I was sure he could feel the raging thunder of my pulse beating through me.

The way my heart went pound, pound, pound. “I want you, Hope. Want you in a way that scares me.”

I searched his face. “Fear never negates hope. It just means we want something badly enough that we’re terrified we might not get to keep it.”

A groan rumbled in his chest, and he was pulling me flush against all his hard and heat. “Sweet girl.”

“I need you,” I returned.

The air stretched taut around us. Pushing and pulling and demanding.

That attraction alive.

A thriving, breathing entity.

We panted through it. Sucking it into our lungs, inhaling each other as all our pieces fell together.

Forming something complete and whole.

Kale stared down at me. Eyes that intense, fathomless blue.

It felt as if I were jumping into the coolest waters, floating in the deepest sea, soaring through the warmest sky.

He gripped me tight. “Told you next time I had you, I wasn’t going to go easy on you.”

His voice grated with the warning.

Desire boiled my blood. “Don’t you know what they say . . . nothing good in life is easy.”

There was no longer any question about what had gotten into me. It was this magnetic man. Seeping into my skin. Dripping into my veins.

That was the only invitation he needed. Kale was on me in a flash. His mouth swooping in to capture mine the same way he’d captured my heart.

Swiftly.

Madly.

Wholly.

Plundering—body, mind, and soul.

I felt beautiful in his arms.

Bold and sexy.

My mama would call it risqué.

She’d be right because, with Kale, I was ready to take every risk.

He flattened his hands under my shirt, running them up my back and lifting it higher and higher.

“Strawberries and cream. So fucking sweet,” he murmured.

Those words sent a rush of chills skating down my neck and scattering across my flesh.

He tore my shirt over my head and dropped it to the floor before he flicked the hook of my bra and dragged it free of my arms. His eyes swept over me. Head to toe. “Look at you, Hope. You are a vision, baby. I think every fantasy I’ve ever had was of you, and I didn’t even know it.”

My spirit danced, and I was pressing my hands under his shirt, running them over the hard, defined planes of his abdomen, needing to discover him, expose every inch of smooth, tanned skin.

He stepped back and yanked it the rest of the way over his head.

A sharp breath left me at the sight. “I close my eyes, and this is what I see. You, Kale. Beautiful you. I never thought it would be possible to want a man the way I want you.”

I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his chest right over his beautiful heart that thundered and sped.

Every part of this man was stunning.

Captivating.

Kale suddenly dropped to his knees in front of me. Adept fingers were quick to work free the button and zipper of my jeans. He pulled them down a fraction and dragged me forward to kiss me on the lace fabric that covered my center.

He inhaled. “So, so sweet.”

My fingers twisted in his hair, and I swore I couldn’t breathe. “You undo me.”

The air grew thicker when he peeled both my underwear and jeans down my legs. My legs that shook as he stripped me, leaving my clothing a discarded pile on his floor.

The way he looked up at me was staggering.

He nudged my legs apart and dragged his fingers through my lips, spreading me.

I gasped.

“So sweet and wet and hot. Your pussy is perfection. Want to live in it. Fuck you day and night.”

A blink of that shyness gathered on my chest and climbed to my cheeks. A part of me was shocked that I was turned on that he was talking to me this way. Shocked that I was standing there letting him touch me this way.

My world flipped so quickly.

No longer recognizable.

But those thoughts were chased away when he slowly drove two fingers into my body.

So deep that I shuddered, my knees giving, close to buckling.

The man knocked me from my feet.

Kale pushed to his and set me on the edge of his bed. Free hand smoothing up the inside of my thigh, he spread me wide for him while he continued to pump me with the other.

“Kale,” I whispered like a plea.

He dipped down and licked against that spot where I needed him most. Where I felt needy and achy and desperate. My fingers dug into his covers. “Kale . . . that feels so good. How do you make everything feel so good?”

I whimpered when he pulled his fingers free, and he edged back, leaving me a wet, quivering mess where he had me lain out on his bed.

He sent me one of those smirks as he began to shrug out of his jeans and underwear. “I’m just getting started, Princess.”

He kicked free of his clothing.

An earthquake rocked me to the core, looking at him standing there that way.

Arrogant and bare and bold.

His cock jutting for the sky.

He stroked himself once.

I swore, I nearly lost it right there.

“On your hands and knees, baby.”

Oh.

Oh God.

My insides trembled and shook.

Watching him, I slowly rolled over and climbed to my hands and knees. I started to crawl toward the middle of the bed.

Hot hands landed on either side of my waist, and Kale hauled me back to the edge. “Not so fast, Shortcake.”

Standing behind me, he smoothed his palms over my bottom.

He groaned. “Perfect.”

And I knew I’d been right all along.

I was in trouble.

So, so much trouble.

Because from behind, the man licked through my crease.

I jumped then moaned, pushing back, my body begging for more.

I had the errant thought that I’d never been so exposed.

Had never given myself so freely.

Had never been so vulnerable.

But then that thought was gone, overpowered by the sensation of his tongue.

His tongue that was working the most mind-blowing bliss as he suckled and lapped, his thumbs running up and down my slit before he was easing his big fingers back inside me.

I shook, his name a whimper as he worked my body into a frenzy.

I wanted to cry when he pulled away, unable to make sense of the way this man made me feel. What he made me need. “Kale, please.”

I couldn’t seem to keep up, never knowing if he was coming or going, my head spinning.

Desperate for him.

His chest was suddenly plastered to my back, his penis nestled against my bottom.

This time it was two of his fingers that were pressing deep into my mouth, his mouth at my ear. “Suck, sweet girl. Taste how delicious you are . . . everything about you.”

I did. I sucked them into the well of my mouth.

Unsure why it sent a rush of euphoria ripping through my body when my taste hit my tongue.

Why I felt so powerful when I was pinned.

Why I felt so confident in his hands.

Cool air hit my back when he again jerked away.

I wiggled and squirmed, my hands fisting in his bedding, not even ashamed when I panted a frenzied, “Please.”

His hands were back on my bottom. Caressing and kneading. Winding me higher. “I love this sweet ass, Hope.” He gripped two fistfuls in his hands.

He started running his thumb around that sensitive spot.

“Kale,” I whimpered.

“Need you to know, I’m an ass man, sweet girl.” His thumb pressed into that tight hole, and I clenched around him. “Not tonight, but I’m going to want to fuck it and lick it and bite it.”

He shocked me again when he leaned down and sank his teeth into the flesh of one cheek. Not enough to hurt. Enough to send my stomach tumbling with the decadent, dark threat.

From over my shoulder, I looked back at him, floored by the sight of him. My spirit reeled with the impact.

Winding us. Wrapping us. Bonding us.

I gave him my truth. “I’m yours.”

He groaned, and I could feel the fat head of him broaching my lips, nudging in, spreading me. “So sweet. So fucking sweet.”

Then Kale slammed into me.

Filling me full.

So full.

All other sensation lost. Nothing but him.

Taking me. Owning me the way only he could.

He clutched me by the hips when he pulled out and then took me again.

I jolted forward, my heart frantic, my need escalating as I gripped at his comforter to keep myself grounded.

Fearing I just might float away.

He began to pound into me, his cock so massive he stole my breath with each powerful thrust.

He fucked me exactly like I knew he would when I’d seen him that first time in the bar.

Arrogantly.

Confidently.

Relentlessly.

And he still felt like a broken heart. Because I had no idea what I would do if I lost him.

It was true.

I needed him.

Needed him not because I would fail without him but because he perfectly fit that hollow spot that had been carved out inside me. Filled it till it was close to overflowing, the way he was filling me right then.

Stroke after stroke.

Too much, and somehow, I wanted more.

Pleasure glowed all around me, this needy feeling that was desperate and shaky.

Sweat slicked my skin and light flickered behind my eyes.

“Is this what you wanted, Hope? Is this what you wanted? Tell me.”

“Yes,” I rasped, rocking back to meet every dominating thrust. “Yes. I want this. I want you.”

Everything sizzled and sparked.

Kale’s palm slid around to my chest, and he pulled me up, my back against his chest. I reached up and hooked my arm around the back of his neck.

Our bodies pressed together.

Sweat slicking our heated skin.

Through the reflection in the plate glass window, I met his eye. “Look at you, Hope. Look at you . . . what I see every time I look at you.”

I gasped a tiny sound when I did, my body all stretched out, my breasts heavy and peaked. Flesh flushed and hair a mussed-up mess.

Kale’s stunning, chiseled face gazed at me from over my shoulder. The man so gorgeous I felt the earth shake.

And I was sure I’d never felt so wanted in all my life.

So sexy.

So adored.

Kale fluttered his fingertips down over my trembling belly, before he strummed them where I throbbed, rolled those magic fingers around my clit.

He continued to drive into me from behind.

The angle almost more than I could take.

Thrust after obliterating thrust.

He spun me into the tightest knot.

And the light.

It was brilliant when it shattered.

Crashing, crushing waves.

Radiating through me. Taking me under.

I writhed and pitched and begged as the most tortuous kind of bliss flooded my body.

Kale grasped my breasts in both hands as he bucked into me.

Hard.

Desperate. He buried his face in the fall of my hair to cover the roar of my name when he came.

He pulsed and I soared.

We rode through ecstasy. The two of us lost to each other.

He held me against his shuddering body until I slumped facedown onto his bed.

“Stay,” he told me. Naked, the man walked into the en suite bathroom and flicked on the light.

His gorgeous body was set on display, the sight of him sending a fresh round of shudders through me. He grabbed a washcloth, wet it under the sink, and sauntered back out.

Leaning over my back, he kissed my temple, brushed back the damp hair from my face, and pressed the warm cloth between my legs.

“Are you okay?” he asked, crawling up and lying on his side facing me. Those blue eyes swam, all his goodness pouring out, darkened pools of adoration.

This man.

This man.

I let my fingertips trail down the side of his face. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt better than I do right now. Right this minute. With you.”

He grabbed my hand and kissed across my fingertips. “Good. Because I don’t think I can let you go. Not ever.”

His tone was playful, but his expression flickered with something serious and sincere.

“Stalker,” I let myself rib, though I knew there was no way he missed the soft affection that tripped from my tongue, knowing I was exposing everything I was feeling right then.

Love.

It sang all around us.

Whispering and thrumming and spilling into the sanctity of his room.

He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me flush against him, fingers brushing through my hair, the peace that echoed through my body swift and whole. “If that’s what it takes for me to get to keep you. Keep Evan.”

A knot grew heavy at the base of my throat, and I searched him in the shadows. “You can’t keep saying things like that if you don’t mean them.”

His voice was rough. “What if I mean them, Hope?”

Hesitation billowed in my spirit. All the things we didn’t know about each other suddenly felt like a chasm between us.

Bottomless.

Fingers fluttering across his full lips, I let my whispered question hit the air. “What do you want from your life, Kale? Before you met me . . . where did you see yourself tomorrow? In five years? Where do you picture yourself when you’re growing old?”

Awareness filled his expression. Clearly, the man knew exactly what I was asking. Words faltered on his lips before he got a distant look on his face.

When he finally spoke, his confession was hoarse and choppy. “I think we need to go back to what I used to want, Hope. Not yesterday and not a year ago.”

He grimaced in pain. “But ten years ago? I’d pictured that by now, I’d be married. Have a horde of kids who’d come running out of the house to meet me at the end of the day.”

A sad smile kicked at the corner of his mouth, and his voice turned wistful, as if he were lost to the image in his mind. “They’d be shouting ‘Daddy’ and tugging at my pant legs and driving me crazy in the best of ways.”

He swallowed hard, his gaze filled with longing when he set the sincerity of those eyes back on me. “I thought I’d have a wife, who’d be waiting on the porch after her own long day, and we’d meet in the middle. Our lives would be chaotic and busy, but they’d be perfect because we were living for the right things.”

A tremor ran his thick throat. “Then that picture was shattered. And it destroyed something in me. From the day I lost her, I thought I’d be going my life alone. And I was okay with that.”

No longer was his gaze distant, but he was right there, with me. “That lonely picture remained the same until the day I met you.”

My heart pressed and thrummed and battered at my chest.

Agony.

The words caught, and I had to force them from my lips. “You know I can’t give you that . . . a horde of kids.”

He blinked in confusion. It only took a second for the man to come to understanding, and I thought maybe it was anger that flashed through his features. “I know what his records say, Hope. They don’t know where his disorder stems from.”

I blinked my own tears. “And you know I can’t take that risk.”

He rolled me to my back and propped himself on an elbow, staring down at me as he wound a lock of my hair around his forefinger. “And if you knew . . . what would you want?”

Wetness seeped from the corners of my eyes. “I’d always dreamed of a big family . . . but Evan will always, always be enough for me.”

His smile turned tender. “You think the two of you aren’t enough? You two are more than enough. So much more. Which means I can’t help but want to give you everything.”

Dreams and faith. They spun around me, wrapping me whole.

Because to Dane, Evan and I had never been enough.

And I swore, right then, Kale Bryant had become everything I needed.