AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He’s hovering right above me, braced on one forearm, and he sweeps his gaze over my face. He brushes a finger down my cheek, drawing goosebumps. “None of what you said is part of the reason why we can’t and won’t happen.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“First, you’re ten years younger than me.”
“Lame,” I mutter.
His lips quirk at the corners. I can’t handle it.
“It’s not like I’m eighteen and you’re thirty-eight. I’m twenty-eight. Age is a crappy excuse.”
“You’re Cash’s little sister,” he says.
I roll my eyes.
Savage’s calloused hand cups my cheek, and my gaze snaps back to his face. “I am a broken shell of a man,” he says. “I don’t deserve a woman who shines like you, and I never will. And you, Hannah Taylor, deserve a man who can give you his whole heart, not just the shattered pieces of what’s left of one.”
It’s the most I’ve heard him talk, and it’s poetry. My heart beats a frantic pattern against the inside of my chest.
“I can’t be with you, because with you, it could never be one night. And if it was longer than that, I couldn’t give you what you deserve.”
Tears streak down the sides of my face, and he catches them and wipes them away.
I don’t know how to feel.
Savage leans in and brushes a kiss over my forehead, and it burns hot and painful when he lies down on his pillow. “Get some sleep.”
Fourteen
SAVAGE
I should never have opened my mouth.
I shouldn’t have told her any piece of the truth, because I’m playing with fire, but at that moment, when she was saying those things, I wanted to kiss her.
The truth seemed like a solid alternative.
We lie in the dark together while the rain beats down on the roof, and there’s a canyon between us. Hannah’s not crying any more, but I can tell she’s not asleep because she’s shivering nonstop. The temperature in the room has steadily dropped the later it’s gotten, and I don’t have a fireplace in here.
I haven’t secured the rest of the house, so we’re not going to hang out in the living room overnight.
And you like being in bed with her.
Hannah’s teeth chatter next to me, and she tries to snuggle deeper under the covers.
“You good?”
“Y-Y-Yeah,” she says. “J-J-Just dandy. B-B-Best n-n-night of my life.” She exhales the last part of the sentence.
I get under the covers and make a snap decision. My hand closes on her upper arm, and she turns her head. “What are you?—?”
“Come here.” I pull her across the bed toward me, and she lets out a squeak. I wrap her against my side, her head resting on my bicep, but I stay on my back. If I try to spoon this woman, no amount of talking is going to bolster my willpower.
Hannah lies stiff as a board for a second, but the cold gets the better of her. Her hand sneaks across my chest and up to my neck, and she turns onto her side and nuzzles into me.
I place my hand on her back. “There,” I say. “Now, get some sleep.”
