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She inhaled sharply. "Looking weak?"
A long silence stretched between them. Then, he exhaled, just barely. "No. Yeah. Mostly I wanted to be there for you. My strength was all I had to give then."
The words hit her like a blow, not loud, not cruel, buttrue.They sank in, straight to the hollow space inside her where she'd buried every ounce of guilt. She had wanted to punish him for surviving, for being strong when she couldn’t be. But he hadn’t done it for himself. He’d done it forher.
Her knees almost buckled. The guilt twisted so tight in her chest it felt like her ribs might crack. Her throat burned, her heart squeezed?—
Then the tears came. Hot and sudden, unstoppable.
This man, this damn, impossible, infuriating man?—
"You showed me so much in the bar, Kade," she said, voice trembling, barely able to get the words out. "Showing me your heart. Your precious heart."
A muscle in his jaw ticked. He took a step closer. So did she, a collision course neither of them tried to avoid.
The heat, the weight, the sheer gravity between them, it was undeniable, inescapable.
"Quinn,"he warned, voice hoarse.
"Shut up," she breathed. “I can't be mad at you anymore. I can’t.”
His face contorted, and he cupped her chin, his thumbs brushing at her tear-stained cheeks, his hands big, warm, and gentle. It released something that had been so tight in her from all those years ago, but now it loosened, unraveled, fell away. He lowered his head, those fierce features softened. With a soft plea, a groan of want so intense it sizzled in the air between them, washed over her body like an electric caress.
It wasn’t gentle. It was raw, aching, reckless. Like years of frustration, grief, anger, longing, guilt, and love all colliding at once.
His grip was iron, his hold absolute, like he couldn’t let her go even if the world ended around them. One slid into her hair, gripping, tilting her head back as his mouth claimed hers. The other curled at her waist, pulling her closer, fitting her against him like he had been starving for this.
She melted.
God help her, she melted into him like she belonged there, in freefall, no safety net, no way back.
The warmth of his bare skin, damp with sweat from his workout, burned through her thin top. He smelled like heat, salt, and something so intrinsically him that it made her dizzy.
His lips moved against hers, demanding, seeking, devouring.
When his tongue swept along the seam of her lips, coaxing, teasing, pushing her past the edge of sanity, she let him in.
“Quinn.” His voice was strained. With a soft, unraveling moan, he buried his face against her neck, scattering hot, moist,open-mouthed kisses down her throat and along her collarbone. A sound escaped her, helpless, needy, wrecked. He groaned in response, his grip tightening, his mouth slamming back to hers, his tongue slipping inside, hot, demanding. Like he needed her closer, needed to consume her whole, but she wanted him to take time with every part of her.
Her fingers tangled in his soft, damp hair, nails scraping lightly against his scalp, and he shuddered, deepening the kiss, swallowing her whole.
Damn.Damn.
This was exquisitely dangerous.
This was sweet devastation.
This was changing everything.
7
The moment Quinn’slips softened beneath his, Dagger lost the thread of control he’d been barely clinging to. Relief shot through him like a detonation, white hot and all-consuming.Finally.
She wasn’t fighting him. Wasn’t pulling away with that fierce, unrelenting will of hers. He wasn’t keeping his distance anymore.
That obliterated the self-imposed rule he’d lived by since this mission began, the one that said he could only protect her if he stayed detached. If he didn’t feel. If he didn’twant.
She was right here, and so was he. Wanting her no longer felt like a betrayal.