Feeling drained, I laid my head back, bringing Maddie to my chest. The room was filled with silence. I tried to block out the memories again. But I couldn’t. They wouldn’t go. Then as my eyes closed, I felt Maddie kiss my chest. She whispered, “I love you, Flame.”

I sucked in a breath, and squeezed my eyes shut, the images disappearing. I held her closer, unclenched my jaw, and whispered, “I… Maddie... I love you too…”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Maddie

When morning broke the next day, the light filtered through the thin curtains at the window. I blinked open my eyes, and I instantly felt warm. Two large arms were holding me tightly and my cheek was flush against the warmest of skin.

And I smiled.

And my heart swelled.

Flame. I was sleeping beside Flame. And better still, he was sleeping with me. He was sleeping… in a bed, as he deserved. I closed my eyes, listening to his rhythmic slow breathing, and I felt content.

I lay, staring at the light filtering into the bedroom, and thought back to last night. To everything. Prophet Cain freeing us, seeing Flame arriving to take me home, his kiss on the bike, then making love, Flame stopping, but both of us finding a way to push on through. My stomach dropped when I recalled him explaining about his brother, his mother, and that awful man he had for a father. It was no wonder he deeply believed his touch could hurt. His mama had taken her own life, probably due to his father’s ill treatment, and his brother had died through neglect. Being told he was evil was all he had ever been told. And he was so much more. So much more than he believed himself to be.

I thought of that first day he woke in this cabin. Believing someone was behind me, preparing to hurt me. And Flame had distracted him, to save me. Distracted him by staggering weakly to the hatch he had built into his floor, where he had proceeded to pleasure himself and cut himself at the same time.  Though there was no pleasure in this act. And I now knew he relived his father taking him each and every night, administering the slices to his body in his father’s stead. He had grown up believing that his release must be brought through pain. His release—just another expulsion of the evil living within his body.

And the number eleven. Always eleven times. His life was measured in sets of eleven. Flame forever relived the slices from his father’s blade, and the last eleven breaths of his baby brother’s short tragic life.

My arms around his waist instinctively held him closer. Woken from my touch, I felt Flame move underneath me, his chest stilling as his hands frantically felt along my back. He was making sure I was really here.

I lifted my head, only to be met with the intense dark eyes I adored so much. “Morning,” I greeted, feeling a blush rush to my cheeks. Flame’s eyes ran over my naked body and he shifted in his position.

“Maddie,” he replied. I slowly crawled up his body to reach his mouth. Making sure my kiss was welcome, and reading in his slightly parted lips that it was, I bent down and timidly pressed my lips against his.

It felt just as precious as it had the night before, the same swarm of butterflies accosting my stomach, as I had felt the first time we kissed. I broke away, and stroking his hair, asked, “Are you okay?”

Flame’s eyes kept dipping to my mouth and he nodded his head. “Yeah.”

A smile tugged on my mouth and I asked, “And did you sleep?”

Flame breathed out a relieved breath, and replied, “Yeah. I always do when you’re here.”

“Then you shall always sleep,” I hushed out quietly. I felt Flame groan, as his erect length pressed against my thigh. My heart fluttered, and I ached for his touch.

“Flame?” I asked quietly and watched his hand on mine. “Will you bathe with me?”

Flame’s nostrils flared, accompanied by a single sharp nod. I freed myself from his arms and slid off the bed. As the cool breeze wrapped around me, I suddenly felt very naked. I covered my chest with my arms, but Flame’s hand pulled them down. “Don’t,” he ordered, and I blushed anew.

Feeling Flame’s eyes watch me walk into the living room, I headed straight for the bathroom and began running the faucet. The steam from the warm water misted up the room. Absentmindedly, I leaned against the sink as I waited for the tub to fill. Flame appeared at the entrance to the bathroom. His large inked body was naked, and heavy muscles moved with his every step.

The wind escaped my lungs as his gaze targeted mine. And that familiar warm needing sensation built between my legs. Flame entered the room and stood right before me. His hand lifted and pushed back my hair from my face. He held a strand between his fingers. “I’ve always liked your hair.”