Page 85 of Then We Shatter

“Shit. Sorry.”

Killian braces his arms to lift himself up, but he doesn’t have the strength to hold himself up. As his left arm bends, he drops to the side. I snag him back fast because he’s too damn close to the edge.

We lie on our sides and as we stare at each other, I trace the contours of his face with a trembling finger. There are differences in his appearance, but I’m in awe of how his eyes sparkle. Not the least bit corpse-like.

“Tell me you’re real,” I demand. “Tell me I didn’t jump off that cliff and make a quantum leap into a parallel universe.” I almost growl when I add, “Tell me I get to keep you.”

“If we’re talking parallel universes, can you jump again and maybe pick an island with a sandy beach and palm trees next time.” The spark in his eyes turns watery, his tone serious when he adds, “You get to keep me, Kitty.”

I can’t stop looking at him, still not believing my eyes. “You’re alive,” I whisper, my breath hitching on the warm, South Pacific air.

“I died for you, and gladly,” he replies. “But now I intend to live for you. I love you, Katarina Barkov. I love you with what’s left of my dead and shriveled heart.”

I trail my fingers over his lips. “I love you, Killian McConkey,” I say, my voice so scratched it’s a whisper. “I have no idea what the future’s going to look like after this, but it has to have you in it.” I pinch his cheek and my voice hardens when I add, “So don’t you ever die on me again!”

He seizes my hand and his expression hardens as he grips my ring finger and slides off Eric’s pink diamond engagement ring. Neither of us break eye contact as he casts it into the ocean. “You’re mine now, Kitty.”

Killian leans forward to brush his lips against mine, but gentle kisses will not do. I pull him into a kiss that has our salty lips stinging and our tongues savoring each other’s taste.

Intense heat pools in my belly and when we stop to draw breath, I tip back my head and moan. “For pity’s sake, can you turn off my vibrator?”

Killian’s laugh is a throaty chuckle. “Sorry about that, but I need to know, Kitty. Was that the best orgasm of your entire life?”

I thump his chest. “Coming hard while plunging to what I thought was certain death certainly makes it the most memorable,” I agree. “But nothing compares to having you inside me. Not even your…”

My voice drifts off and my brow furrows. My thoughts have wandered from Killian’s big, beautiful cock to the purple silicone replica that should be prodding into my back right now.

“It’s gone,” I say, twisting so I can check the back of my cycle shorts. “I’ve lost my purple monster.”

Tears well in my eyes and I can’t believe how upset I am. When Sasha brought it back to me, it had been like recovering a sacred relic.

Strong hands cup my face. “That thing was so you wouldn’t walk away and forget me. It’s served its purpose. Now let me serve mine.”

I accept his soft kisses. “And what would that be?”

His lips rest on mine for a moment. “Let me save you.”

“This is…” I’m at a loss for words as I take in my surroundings, which doesn’t take long because the space we’re in is tiny. I had to dip my head to fit inside the hole cut into the cliff face.

The cave is six feet wide and maybe four foot deep with a stack of containers taking up much of the available space. When I press my hand against the hewn rock, its sharp edges feel different to the gnarled ledge we’d scrambled onto. This rock wasn’t chipped away by violent storms and crashing waves.

“Did you cut into the rock?” I ask incredulously.

“A wee explosion. Then I just chiseled bits off here and there,” Killian explains while tearing off a final strip of duct tape to make sure the screen covering the entrance seals us in and stops light leaking out. It’s camouflaged on the outside with fake moss.

“But how did you…? Where did all this equipment come from? How long have you been here? And how did you know where to find me?” I have so many questions, it’s dizzying. Thankfully, Killian’s switched off my vibrator and I’m not having to fight churning desire too. Or not much.

“I arrived the day after you,” Killian says as he turns on a lamp hanging off a hook drilled into the hewn rock.

It’s the first clear look we get of each other and I frown, but before I can throw more questions at him, he cups my face and answers some of the others. “I waited for the first storm to hit after you arrived to blow a hole in the rock, and I’ve been living here ever since.”

I’d stood on the edge of the cliff during that particular storm, grieving a man who was playing with explosives a couple of hundred feet below me. I glance around the cramped space again. There isn’t enough room for him to lie down, and every surface is hard and unyielding. “Killian, you’re insane.”

His thumb grazes over my cheek. “Says the woman whose strategy was ‘leap off a cliff and hope for the best.’ At least I came prepared.”

“You dragged all of this equipment with you?” I ask, launching into my next question to avoid having to explain my desperation.

“I used an underwater drone to transport it all from a fishing boat I borrowed.”