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He nodded, the muscles in his jaw ticking. “Yeah, I’ll stay in bed and wait for you to come back. Or come check on you and keep my asshole comments to myself. And you won’t bring up the panties anymore?”
I raised my chin a little. “Do you keep them?”
He threw his arms down and stalked up to me enraged. “I throw them away and shower for an hour after those photo ops.”
I felt a fire burning in my belly. “And you won’t want one of them?”
He grasped my face looking desperate. “All I ever want is you, Raven.”
His words ignited a fire in me that I saw reflected in his eyes. Throwing my arms around his neck, he picked me up like I was light as air and I wrapped my legs around his waist while our lips met in an urgent, scorching kiss.
I pulled back a second. “I wasn’t leaving you, Ransom. I just needed to do some research here.”
His face shone with hurt. “You didn’t take my call,” he choked, “so I thought you went back to New York.”
Crushing my lips against his, I did what words couldn’t do. I poured every ounce of love I had for this man into the way I pressed my body to his, squeezed his sides with my thighs, tangled my tongue with his, and plunged my hands into his hair. I already loved Ransom since I was a teenager, but I was falling more in love with him every time he showed his vulnerabilities and let me really see him.
Falling as fast as I was, I clung to him. Nerves and panic filled my body. What was I doing? How could I get in with him this deeply? He may think he wants a forever with me, but we were living such separate, different lives. One of us was going to get hurt here and it wouldn’t be him. It was going to be me. Whether it was the constant travel or the fact that we would rarely see each other. Whether it was the photo shoots or the sassy girl at a hotel bar, someone else would eventually lead him to find not only a good soul match but someone in the right package for being the wife of a CEO and professional hockey player. Because as soon as he introduced me to his world of reporters and sports media, they would tell him what I already knew. I wasn’t good enough for him or his lifestyle.
Problem was, though, I couldn’t stop. I knew I should push back and walk away before my heart got tromped on, but I couldn’t. I devoured him like a starving woman. I ached for him in a way I’d never felt before. I fell farther and farther until I knew it was too late to ignore it.
When Ransom pulled back, I lunged forward to kiss him again, but he stopped me. “Are you going back to New York?”
I felt my eyes widen. “Um, eventually as we planned.”
His eyes closed. When he opened them again, they were filled with pain. “Will you even think about moving in with me?”
I nibbled on my swollen lower lip. “I mean, I don’t know. You won’t even be here half the time. What difference does it make if I move here? We’d still see each other as often on video chat and such.”
His eyes bugged. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
My lips parted, but no sound came out.
Lifting one hand to my neck, he let his thumb brush against my jaw. “You don’t think there’s a difference between touching each other and seeing each other?”
I narrowed my eyes and scrambled to get down, tugging on my shirt. “What? You just want to have sex with me more often or something?”
He rested his hand on his hip where his fingers splayed over his belt. “I like to touch you whether it’s a sexual touch or not. I like holding you in my arms, winding my hands in your hair, feeling your fingers on my scalp, on my body. The connection I feel when we touch is so much more than getting ready for sex. Don’t you know that?”
I blinked. “Ah, no. You’ve never said that before.”
He crinkled his brow. “Why do you think I pull you next to me in bed? Why do you think we watch your movies? I don’t care about Jane Austen and period dramas. I want you with me and I don’t care what we watch when we’re touching so long as I feel you. Touch means more to me.”
I leaned forward, placing my hand on his cheek, and saw him melt into me. “Oh.”
He covered my hand with his. “Raven, the sex is great, but it’s not all I want.”
My voice felt small. “It’s not?”
“Don’t you see?” he whispered. “I’m completely in love with you.”
My heart soared. But I couldn’t look at him. “I know the feeling, Chief.”
I saw his Adam’s apple bob. “You do?”
I nodded still not making eye contact. “Mm-hmm.”
He ducked to catch my eye. “Then will you consider staying? Living with me? Building your life into mine?”
