Spinning around, I catch him off guard. Pushing past his solid frame, I open the balcony door and move into my room.

I can’t fucking do this.

He follows me in and I turn and face him, his wild blue eyes stare at me with confusion.

“What, Emmy?”

Reaching up I grip my necklace for support, his gaze not missing the action.

“I can’t do this.” Running my other hand across my forehead I try to gather my thoughts.

Taking a tentative step forward, his brows pull together. Lowering his voice to almost a growl he asks, “Do what, Emmy? What can’t you do?”

“This!” I cry, waving my hands between us. “Everything!”

“You are going to have to be more specific than that, babe. Cause right now I am real fucking close to tying your ass to the fucking bed. So tell me… What don’t you know?”

So many emotions bubble up and I can’t tell which one to focus on. Just like my memories, everything is so out of control.

I feel out of control.

I don’t even know who I am anymore… I’m not the same girl I was when I first got here.

Hell, I don’t think I have been that girl for a while... since that picture… since thinking I was ready to move forward.

Maybe I just wasn’t ready. Maybe I will never be.

“Fucking stop it!” he growls at me and takes a step forward. “Get that shit out of your head right fucking now, Emmy.” As he takes another step forward, I take one in retreat, our movements mirroring each other until I have nowhere left to go.

With my back pressed against the wall he hovers in front of me, anger and hurt mix with determination. The heady combination making him look like a warrior.

Lifting his arm, he places it against the wall beside my head and leans in. My body responds to him even though my mind is elsewhere.

“You are exactly where you are supposed to be, baby,” he declares, the calmness in his voice contradicting the way his body buzzes with energy.

Shaking my head, tears spring to my eyes and everything in me coils, begging for release.

“You don’t get it!” I yell, slapping my hands against his chest but he doesn’t budge. “You don’t understand what it’s like to constantly feel like things aren’t what they seem. To feel like you are always forgetting something or that something is missing! Not knowing what’s right from wrong… Ever since that day at the café my skin itches with unease! I can’t make sense of anything! I just want to feel okay!” Tears stream down my face as I let go of everything, my body sagging more and more with each word. “I want to be able to finally breathe. I just want to remember,” I admit on a sob.

Dropping to his elbow his body presses against mine. Bringing his other hand to my face, he cups my cheek and wipes away my tears. “Let me help you,” he murmurs bringing his forehead to mine.

“You can’t… no one can,” I whisper, staring into his eyes. wishing more than anything he could. Wishing that he could just help me sort through these memories and make them whole.

Not listening, he dips down and brushes his lips against mine. “Together. Always fucking together,” he murmurs before sealing our lips together.

Everything fades…

Running his hand to the nape of my neck he threads his fingers through my hair and tilts my head to the side. “Let me fucking help you,” he demands, pulling back slightly before kissing me again.

Fire erupts around us as my body ignites with need. Gripping his cut I pull him even closer, the pressure of his body against mine has me feeling whole, has me letting go.

Leaving my mouth, he makes his way to my ear, the sound of his heavy breathing as he bites down causes my eyes to roll back and a gasp to escape my mouth. “Are you scared?” he breathes.

“No,” I hush out.

Making his way back to my mouth he kisses me tenderly before staring into my eyes. “Does it hurt?”

With tears still in my eyes, I shake my head and answer, “No”

Triumph flashes in his gaze and his nose flares. “That’s right, Emmy.” Trailing his hand down my body he grips my leg and hikes it up over his waist, the move causing us both to groan. “I will never fucking hurt you.”

Staring at each other, we watch as the lines between us fade to nothing. The lines of right and wrong, of yes and no… the lines of past and present. It all disappears and everything slows down. Time stands still.

Bringing his lips back to mine his kiss becomes lazy and deep, the urgency vanishing along with my pain.

I never want this to end. I want to stay lost in him forever.

Opening up to him I give what I take. Our tongues dance to the same rhythm as our hips. Our hands search and grab, they push and pull. It’s too much and not nearly enough. It’s everything and so much more.

“So fucking sweet,” he groans against my mouth. His approving grunt as my hands dip under his shirt has my mouth tearing from his, the need for air too much to ignore.

His hooded gaze scorches my skin, my need for him so strong I pant unable to stand still.

I watch through barely opened eyes as he pushes off the wall. With sure determined movements, he slides off his cut and removes his shirt. Everything around us tints in reds and violets, lust and love. I have never seen anything so beautiful, muscles on muscles, tattoos next to scars… he’s perfect.

Stepping back to me, I tilt my head up as he cups my waist. Squeezing his thumb into the indents of my hips, I suck in a sharp breath, my head falling back against the wall.

“Oh, God,” I gasp.

Running his hands up my sides he brings my shirt higher and higher. Gripping the ends, he pulls it over my head and discards it. Standing there in just my thin red lace bra and sleep shorts I watch as his gaze rakes over every inch of me. Need so strong it can set the world on fire pours out of him.

When he finally lands his wandering gaze on mine, what I see in his eyes has me choking for air.

Love. Unconditional, unquestionable love.

Something aches in me at the sight, something I don’t want to acknowledge.

“Don’t,” I beg, shaking my head. I can’t take this right now.

Placing his hands on either side of my head, pain flashes across his face. “I made you a promise… I promised you that I would always be there for you. That you would never be alone. I promised you a future.” Dropping his voice to a whisper, his lips skirt against mine as he pleads, “Let me keep that promise.”

Like lightening lighting up the night sky, our kiss brightens the whole room. I pour everything into that kiss; my frustration, my fears, my hopes and my love… I give it all. And he takes it, begging for more.

I don’t know who moves first, but next thing I know, my shorts are gone and I am fighting with his jeans as his wandering hands take note of every inch of my body.

“You’re an angel,” he praises in between heated kisses along my neck. “How can you be real?”

Gasping at his words, my body tenses as a memory unwillingly ambushes me.

Blue eyes stare down at her with a love so strong nothing could break it. “Sometimes I worry that you aren’t real, that I have made you up. Such beauty doesn’t belong here,” he whispers to her. Reaching out with both hands he runs his fingers over her body.

Her response to him is untamed.

They make love in such a way that it would make angels sing. He pours every ounce of love he has for her in every move he makes. He holds her tight anchoring her to him so she will never fall. He gives her everything he’s got body and soul.

“Kodah,” I breathe out loud still lost in my memory

Everything stops.

Pulling back enough so he can look into my eyes, his gaze widens with shock

“What did you just say?” he asks on a single breath.

Snapping back into reality, I stare at the man in front of me with new eyes, the colors around us brighter than they were before.

Shaking my head, I choke on what is threatening to tear me apart.

Determination replaces the shock and he holds his ground. “No! What did you say, Emmy?”

I can’t speak. I can’t think.

Slamming his hand against the wall, I jump. “Don’t fucking do this to me! What did you say? Tell me. Emmy! Don’t fuck with me!” he roars, anguish in his voice and tears in his eyes.

Oh God.

“I…I don’t know.”

“You said my name,” he shouts and I cower. Losing his fight, he repeats in a whisper, “You said my name.” A lone tear slides down his face and I can’t hold mine back, the sight of his pain killing me.

I am doing this to him…I am hurting him.

“I don’t –”

“Remember me!” he demands, slamming his hand against the wall again.

Tears stream down my face at the anguish in his voice. Everything hurts; my body, my head, my heart… my soul.

Caged in, I search through my tears as my heart screams and aches to remember.

Standing before me with his shirt off and jeans unbuttoned, I take in every muscle, every tattoo, every scar, begging my mind to remember. Trailing my search past his chest to his face I come to his eyes.

It’s those eyes…it’s always been those eyes.

“Look at me, baby. Please fucking look at me and remember.”

Not even realizing I closed my eyes, I snap them back open and stare back into his.

“I can’t remember,” I cry in frustration. Placing my hand on his chest I move to push him away.

Clenching his jaw, he doesn’t budge, instead he crowds me. Pushing me back up against the wall he leans in causing the air to leave my lungs.

“Your body remembers me,” he whispers, running a hand up my waist. “Your heart remembers me.” He continues trailing that hand over the swell of my breast stopping at my heart.

Taking his eyes off his hand he meets mine and the desire and determination in his gaze have me gasping for air.

Running his hand up my neck he cups my face not looking away. “Remember me, remember us,” he whispers as he leans his forehead against mine.

My body trembles and I can’t breathe.

“Please,” I beg. I don’t know what I am begging for; for him to stop, for him to keep going… for him to save me. Whatever it is I am pleading for, he either ignores it or he knows it, because the next words out of his mouth cause my world to shatter. With just three simple words I fall.

“Set us free.”