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Her reaction had been instant. She’d swallowed the tight knot in her throat, and tears had burned behind her eyes, because she suddenly saw him, truly saw him, in all his facets. The unstoppable SEAL with the lethal training. The man who’d once removed her children from her care not to punish her, but to save her, and them, when she had spiraled into grief. The brother who lost Brian but still blamed himself for not being able to keep him alive.
The image of him struggling against his brothers’ grips, consumed with the raging need to protect and avenge her, had left an indelible mark on her memory.
For a moment, Quinn thought of the carnage he would’ve caused if they hadn’t restrained him. He might have destroyed Langford in one swing, might have trashed his own future in a blinding second of rage. All for her.
The sheer weight of that realization pressed down on her heart like a tidal wave. This beautiful, volatile man, powerful, furious, damaged, was also the man who would never let her fall alone.
It was so clear. She could hardly stand the enormity of it.
She knew who she was now.
Dagger had given her thetruthto understand, not with words, but with every action, every sacrifice, every time he stood between her and danger. With that truth, with the clarityof finally seeing herself through eyes that neither judged, nor pitied, she craved him like no other man in her life.
This time, she was choosing him.
Not out of grief. Not out of guilt. But of her own free will.
With that thought, she moved one step closer to wholeness.
She’d fought back a sob.
In that moment, she wanted to merge with him, to give in to the overwhelming desire to hold on and never let go.
She glanced down at the bandage wrapped around her bicep, the dull red stain where blood had seeped through. If the bullet had been just a bit more to the right, it would have pierced her heart. The thought should terrify her. It did terrify her. But it also felt oddly…liberating. For the first time, she realized life wasn’t guaranteed. She could be gone in a flash, her boys without a mother, that beautiful man once again tormented by guilt.
A shiver went through her, a mixture of bone-deep relief and an aching new awareness. He’d tried so hard to keep her safe.
All the horrible things she’d flung in his face, every spiked comment or unfair accusation, churned in her gut. How agonizing must it have been for him, to hear her blame him, to watch her unravel, and to still care so ferociously that he’d shield her from everything, even herself.
He was here like he always was, and if he had been at that construction site, he would have taken that bullet for her…her gut clenched hard. He would havediedfor her. That realization almost made her knees buckle. She pressed her hand against her mouth, eyes burning with trapped tears. Without thinking about anything other than getting to him, she pushed off the bed, wobbling, her voice hoarse. “Kade…”
His head came up, and it was clear he’d been lost in pain, too, but it wasn’t pain for his brother’s loss. It was written across his face, buried with the terror of coming close to losing her, too. Itwas unbearable. A sob broke loose, and before she could even get to him, he was on his feet in a flash, meeting her close to the bed. “Fuck, Quinn, baby,” he whispered, his face contorting with raw emotion as he reached for her. “Don’t cry.”
She went into his arms, and she felt a shudder course through him as he closed his arms around her in a rough embrace. “Babe, don’t cry,” he whispered hoarsely. His big arms surrounded her so gently, like he was afraid she’d shatter under his touch. For a moment, she let herself sink into that warmth, letting it wash over the raw wound of her fear.
Catching him by the back of the head, Quinn closed her eyes and hung onto him, unable to dam up her unhappiness any longer. Deep sobs were wrenched from her, and Dagger crushed her even closer, his fingers tangling in her hair as he tucked her face against his. “It’s okay, honey,” he choked out. “It’s okay.”
Unable to check her tears, Quinn tightened her hold and made a low, urgent sound, a crazy kind of fear claiming her.
It was as if Dagger sensed that fear, sensed the cause of it, and with a hoarse sound, he shifted her head back and found her mouth, his savage kiss tasting of tears and pain and fear-driven desperation. For Quinn, there was a taste of fury. Something just as raw, just as consuming, something that was connected to what drove him, and she wanted to consume all of it. Every last bit of it.
A low sob contracted her throat, and he dragged his hand up her back, molding them together in a crushing hold, his other hand immobilizing her head as his mouth turned hot, hungry and ravaging. Locking her arms around him, she yielded everything, her mouth, her body, her strength, driven by a need that burned through to her very soul. It was as if her near miss broke his formidable hold on his emotions, and suddenly, everything was out of control.
Widening his stance, Dagger dragged her up into the cradle of his thighs, the hard ridge of his flesh meshing with her softness, and suddenly Quinn couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, for the thick pulsing urgency swelling inside her. Dagger groaned and dragged his mouth away, his breathing harsh and ragged as he lifted her hips against his, a violent shudder coursing through him. His merciless hold fusing them body to body, Quinn wrapped her legs around him, giving him full access to the heat that was denied him by the barrier of their clothing. His breathing harsh against hers, Quinn clung to him, her senses sucked into a mindless need, and she dragged her hands up his back, her fingers digging into steely muscles as she twisted her body against his, trying to bring him closer, tighter, harder.
Grinding out a guttural denial, Dagger dragged her head against his neck, then hiked her higher, holding her immobile against him. His embrace was vice-like. Quinn was aware of the heat and hardness of his body, aware that he was carrying her toward the bed.
Awash with a whole storm of emotion, she uttered a broken cry and convulsively tightened her hold when he tried to disengage her from him. A tremor coursed through him, and he buried his face against her neck, his hand spanning her head. On a shuddering intake of air, he braced one knee on the mattress, steadying their combined weight as he carried her down onto the bed, her legs still locked around him. Quinn sobbed out her response as he lowered himself on top of her, his weight settling heavily in the cradle of her thighs. Sensations and emotions raged through her, and she flexed her legs, thrusting up against him, an incoherent desperation possessing her. He met her urgent thrust with one of his own, the clothing that separated them the only obstruction against the breaking storm. His breathing harsh and out of control, he twisted and grasped her leg, trying to break her hold. “Quinn—baby, let go. Let go.”He shuddered, then pulled free, his voice hoarse and desperate. “Your clothes. Fuck, Quinn, help me, baby.”
Through her delirium, Quinn turned her face against his neck and let her legs go slack, heat and hunger and urgency making her writhe against him. His touch rough and frantic, Dagger stripped away her dress, ripped off her underwear and removed her bra, the cool air a slap against her raging flesh and aching, puckered nipples. He didn’t give her a moment’s respite as he knelt, his dark head dipping down. He clamped his wet mouth over her clit, and she cried out as his tongue glided in burning, exquisite strokes. The pleasure was sharp and riveting and stole her breath. She’d never experienced such an erotic sensation. Unable to hold back, she let out another cry and arched sinuously against his mouth as she came in a searing wave that shook her entire body.
He straightened as the sensations moved through her so powerfully, she thought she was going to come apart again. Then he reached down, touched her clit again, two three strokes just as the waves were subsiding. This second orgasm was even more powerful, her hips arching helplessly, the fierce look on his face making the exquisite pleasure burst and burst until she was mindless with it. She clenched her eyes closed, riding wave after wave.
When she opened her eyes, all she could do was stare at his tense body, his clenched jaw, every sculpted inch of him courtesy of JSOC and Uncle Sam. There wasn’t an ounce of excess fat on his lean, muscled frame, one sexy, sin-worthy, breath-stealing package, a man of convictions, iron-tight control, and beauty both inside his incredible soul and in every gorgeous, delineated bulge of muscle beneath that smooth, sun-darkened, olive-toned skin.His body wasa sucker punch right to her lust, never fueled like this, a feast in lethal prime male anatomy. She took in the honey-toned dark hair that fell over his brow, the chiseledcut jaw, and beautiful mouth that had given her such amazing pleasure.
Finally, she came to his thick, straining erection, and even that part of him was as magnificent as he was.With a low growl encompassing sexual relief and urgent need at the way her eyes roved over him, his face contorted in desire, his words a tortuous whisper. “I lost myself for a moment, but I don’t have protection. If we need to stop–”
“I thought you guys were always so well prepared.”