Page 66 of Caught Looking

But Annalise in the shirt I’d left on the floor? Fucking hell. It screamedmineand my inner caveman beat his chest with pride.

“It smells like you,” she confessed.

I kissed her. Slow and tender. “Then I’ll leave you a stack of shirts every time I hit the road. They’re yours.” I was so fucking glad she had it. I hoped it helped her until I got here.

“I won’t argue.” She blushed. “We’re really real, aren’t we?”

“So fucking real.” I rolled on top of her. “Do you need a distraction?”

Her fingers ran up my arms and into my hair. “Make me forget? For a little while?”

“Hell yeah. I need to feel you.” We moved like we’d been doing this for months instead of one night. I already knew the curve of her waist, the back of her thigh, without looking, how she’d arch into me if I kissed her right there…

“Seth,” she gasped.

“Annalise,” I groaned. “I missed you.” I liked my shirt on her but it had to go. I leaned back and grabbed the hem. She sat up and raised her arms. I dropped it on the floor and took in her gorgeous body. But something else immediately caught my eye.

Bruises on each of her arms. “What the fuck?”

Her eyes went wide and she tried to cover them. “Shit. I forgot.”

“Youforgotyour psycho ex grabbed you so hard it bruised you?” I needed to destroy something…or someone. But the look in Annalise’s eyes brought me up short.

She was sad. Scared.Lost.

She needed me to love her more than she needed me to avenge her. So I kissed the bruises. Each one. Slowly. As if I could actually kiss them away. And then I made love to her so slowly and tenderly she’d never forget what it was to feel loved.

Because somewhere along the way I’d fallen madly in love with Annalise Ryan.

18

ANNALISE

The fury in his eyes made my heart stop. I had people who loved me in my life. But none of them loved me this intensely. Like he’d personally cut down everyone who hurt me.

Equally shocking was the next look that flashed through Seth’s handsome eyes.Love.

Fuck, was this what it was like to be loved by Seth Butler? No wonder he hid behind his walls for so long. The man was blatant, fully exposed emotion. His eyes were as soft as I’d ever seen them. As he looked down at me I felt adored, precious, like I was the only thing he cared about in the whole world.

There was a possessiveness there too, but not the kind that came from Owen. Owen thought he owned me simply because we’d dated. That I was a piece of property he could do what he wanted with.

Seth’s reaction was totally different. He wanted to defend me, protect me, make me feel better. It was partnership. Friendship. Love.

Mine.

The thought entered my mind as a single, aching siren. And I knew the feeling gripping my chest was the same as what I saw shining down at me from his eyes. The deep sense that this man belonged to me and no one else. No one was allowed to touch him, to love him, but me. And I would fight anyone who tried.

So I shivered as he lowered his lips to my left arm and kissed each bruise. Emotion clogged my throat. One man hurt me. The other healed me.

There was no comparison.

I closed my eyes as the emotions I’d bottled up over the last few hours spilled over. The dam broken by Seth’s love. His touch was electric, and yet soft and tender. He was gentle.

I needed gentle.

He kissed each corner of my mouth. “I’ve got you.” Then he kissed the line of tears on each cheek, before moving to my right arm and doing it all over again. “It’s just you and me, Annalise. Forget everyone else. Don’t think about your friends or your family. Forgethim. Nothing matters but this.” His hand came to my face, his palm sliding along my cheek until his fingers teased my hair. His lips caressed mine. “Fuck, I missed you.”

And I missed him. Road trips sucked.