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“I did.”

“You were gone three fucking days,” I snarl.

“I had to.”

“I didn’t know if you were alive.” My grip tightens, and he exhales. “Do you understand what that was like? After everything that just happened to her, to then be without you?”

“I’m sorry,” he says, and I can hear the sincerity in his voice.

“I know you are,” I say, pushing him to his knees. “And you’re about to show me just how much.”

He drops with zero resistance, staring up at me with those damn puppy-dog eyes. I reach down and take his face in my hands and tip it up. “You scared me, and you scared Kayla.”

I keep my grip in his hair, and he opens his mouth for me as I push my pants down enough to free my cock. I thrust inside, not caring that he gags around me—that makes it better. His hands grip my thighs, and the sounds he makes have me growing harder. I look down at him, and he is already gazing up at me, and fuck if that doesn’t make it tough to be mad at him. Vero always looks at me as if I am the most important person in the room, and that undoes me every time.

“Do you know what it felt like, you being gone for days, when I didn’t know where you were?” I growl and thrust deep into his throat. “I checked the stupid fucking app over and over even though I knew it would show nothing.”

His hands move on my thighs, and I pull back enough to let him breathe, showing that his eyes are rimmed red and his lips are swollen. I press my thumb under his chin. “You went and did something reckless without me. Why?”

“For her,” he rasps.

“I know it was for her.” I press my thumb harder. “That is the only reason you are still in one piece. You don’t get to do something that stupid and not come back to me. We are supposed to be in this together.”

His eyes go glassy, and I know he understands that what he did was reckless. It’s not something I want him to do when his walls come down and he feels everything at once.

“Look at me,” I snap, and he blinks his eyes open. “You are the most infuriating person I have ever known in my life.”

I pull him up by his hair until he is standing, then I back him against a wall, pinning him there with my body. “And you are so fucking good, do you know that? Even when you do the most idiotic thing I can imagine, I know you do it with good intentions.” I press my forehead against his, and he exhales. “I’ve never met anyone like you, and I don’t think I ever will again. You’re one of a kind and you’re mine.” I lean in closer. “But don’t ever do that again,” I say against his mouth.

“Okay,” he whispers.

“That isn’t good enough.”

“I won’t. I promise,” he says, kissing along my jaw.

I grab the back of his neck, and he curls his hands in my shirt.

“You and her. The two of you in one day. Not knowing if she was okay and then you straight after? I can’t handle it.”

“I will always come back to you.”

But I push him harder against the wall. “You don’t know that.”

“I’m here now.”

“I know you are.”

He looks wrecked—beautiful and mine. Something in my chest finally loosens as I bring my hand up to cup his face, and he laughs softly against my palm.

“Fuck, you undo me,” I mutter.

He smiles even though he looks tired. “Yeah.”

“Every time.” I press my mouth to his. “But don’t let it go to your head.”

“Too late.” He smirks at me.

“You’re mine—that is non-negotiable. You don’t get to remove that, cut it out, or leave me behind. Where you go, I follow.”