Page 29

MARA

A ll self-control snapped as weeks of fear and sorrow and loss and want and need came tumbling out of me at the taste of his lips.

I whimpered, feeling a tear roll down my cheek, and then I was lost. I pulled on his shirt and Wes’s hands moved to my hips, gripping hard.

I parted my lips in invitation, and he didn’t hesitate.

His tongue moved and danced and caressed mine.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, drawing a primal sound from deep within him.

He walked me backwards—one step, two steps—never letting go of me, never lifting his mouth from mine until my back came flush against the wall. His hips pushed against mine, pinning me as dizziness swept through me.

I missed him. Oh my god, I missed everything about him. His hands, and face, and eyes, and hair, and lips—absolutely everything .

And Wes Calvernon, the man who had been saving me from day one, just told me he loved me.

He said it. I heard him. And I had finally gotten those words out too.

I had finally professed to him what was truly in my heart, and he felt the same way.

Joy swept through me, and I was a shooting star, burning through the atmosphere, lighting the infinitesimal sky, all because Wes loved me .

His hands caressed my cheeks and then cradled my face as he pulled back just enough to look me in the eye. His own were stars—burning amber jewels that felt like they were seeing right through me. “Say it again, Mara. Say you love me.”

I smiled, and it was genuine and real, and it awoke a dying part of me. “I love you.”

He shook his head. “No…say my name when you tell me.” There was no humor in those eyes. Nothing but a ferocity that had me shivering against him.

My heart throbbed. “What?” Was he serious? But it only took one look at him to know he needed this from me. With a deep breath, I looked into his hazel eyes. “I love you, Wes. I love you …only you.”

Wes closed his eyes, tipping his chin to the side as his entire body quaked. “I can’t even begin to tell you how long I’ve been waiting to hear you say that. To hear you say my name, and then say you loved me.”

He pressed his forehead against mine, eyes still closed as he placed his hands on the wall for support, caging me in.

I didn’t understand.

Sure, I’d never said those words to him before, but… God, did he really doubt that I cared about him that much? And why did I get the feeling that there was so much more to this simple request?

I pressed my right palm against his chest and felt the thunderous pounding of his heart. “Wes?”

He inhaled slowly, as though he was trying to control a torrent of emotions within him as he pulled back, no longer holding me captive. But I could still feel the heat coming off him in waves.

“Mara,” he finally said, and my freaking god, the way he said it made me feel like he was preparing to pray to the universe.

“I love you.” He took my hands and pressed them both firmly against his chest. “I love you more than anything in this world, and I’ve done everything for you .

Even if you didn’t love me, I would do it all again and never regret my actions because they were all for you .

” He pressed his forehead to mine once more, closing his eyes as he spoke.

“I love you, no matter what you face or how broken you think you are, I will always be there for you. I will always come after you. I will always fight the demons of this world for you, no matter the odds. So if I’m your choice, then I want you to say it.

Say my name, and tell me that you’re choosing me, Mara. Let me hear those words.”

He opened his eyes, and passion burned fiercely through them, consuming me as they held me prisoner by the power smoldering within them.

Because looking into Wes’s eyes was akin to staring up into the eye of a storm, with clouds that swirled, and wind that raged, and rain that pelted the earth demanding submission to the heavens.

Adrenaline coursed through my veins, and I felt like I stood on the edge of a precipice, admiring the universe. I took in a deep breath and felt no hesitation when I answered him. “I want you , Wes. I choose you …because I love you.”

His eyes searched mine, and I swore he was digging deep into the profound depths of my very soul. But all he would find was confidence and love. I had nothing to hide from him, not anymore.

His one hand shifted, pulling on the stainless-steel chain around his neck, revealing his dog tags and something else.

They clinked softly as he wrapped his fingers around them and yanked, snapping the chain.

With deft fingers, he freed the object from the dangling chain, and it glimmered.

The afternoon sun caught the molded metal, two small white stones, and the one honey-colored diamond that rested between them. My lips parted.

My ring.

The beautiful engagement ring Wes used to ask me to marry him at the gala.

His father wanted him to use his grandmother’s ring—this ugly thing that was so huge and heavy, it served better as a paperweight.

But when Wes dropped onto one knee, he didn’t propose to me with that gaudy thing.

He proposed to me with this ring— my ring .

Wes held up the circlet between us, and my heart felt like it was going to give out with the intensity of its rhythm. “Then tell me you’ll be mine, Mara. Tell me you’ll marry me. Because I want nothing else than for you to be my bride.”

My heart wasn’t beating anymore. It was dead. It gave out. That was the only thing that could explain the overwhelming achy tightness in my chest. But I managed one sound through the ache. One word through my lips. “Always.”

***

WES

My soul caved. Rock and granite and marble and veins of precious metals came tumbling down at the sound of that one word leaving her lips.

Always .

Fucking always .

I would have taken yes , but always was so much better. Because always carried memories and depth and strength, and it meant so much more than just a yes between us.

Because I was always hers, from the very beginning.

Because I had always craved her from that first fateful day I saw her outside the Telvian Academy.

Because I had always sacrificed everything to a bloody fucking fault, just for her.

Because I had always saved her and always would.

Because the first time I asked her to marry me, to stay with me …she said always .

I took her left hand and gently slipped the engagement band up her ring finger, right where it belonged. Her eyes sang to me as I looked into them. They said she was happy. They said she was in love. They said she wanted this. They said she was fucking choosing me .

Fucking always .

I took her into my arms, feeling the way her soft curves molded against me. I pressed my cheek to her crown, trying to keep from holding her too tight, and breathed in the floral notes of shampoo from her hair as I closed my eyes.

I had sacrificed everything—given up everything —just to hold her like this again. To know that she was safe. To feel her in my arms. To know that she was mine. That she was choosing me.

I pulled her back, stared into her eyes once more because I couldn’t fucking believe it. I couldn’t fucking believe that this was really happening. That Mara was actually saying yes to me. And not just yes …but fucking always.

But it was true. Her eyes were saying it, singing it, shouting it out. They were saying she loved me. They were proclaiming she was mine. They were declaring that this was real .

If I died today, I would die a happy man. Because the only thing I ever wanted was for Mara to love me in return. And she did. She loved me. She said my name, and the sound of it made the stone walls of my soul crack as though struck by lightning.

Fucking always .

I took her face in my palms, cradling her like the most precious thing.

Her hands held my wrists, and then I drew my lips down to hers.

I caressed her mouth, ran my tongue along her bottom lip, telling her I wanted more.

And she whimpered—a soft sound that tugged on the edges of my control.

Then she parted, opening like the sky after a storm.

I kissed her. I sipped, and I drank, and I pulled on her, wanting more, always more.

Because I was greedy, and needy, and I had been denied this from her for too fucking long.

And it was worth it. It was all so fucking worth it because I was here, and she was mine, and I was finally getting what I had always wanted. I had Mara.

Not because of who she thought I was.

Not because of fucking politics forcing her to marry me.

Not because she was afraid for her brother’s life, or because she didn’t have a choice.

Because she wanted me .

Because she loved me .

Because Mara de la Puente got to choose who she wanted of her own free will, and that choice was finally. Fucking. Me.

“Wes,” she gasped, completely breathless. I pulled back, wrapping an arm around her waist, kissing her neck instead to let her breathe.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered against her skin, loving the way she tasted. I had to regain control of myself. The last thing I wanted was to suffocate her with everything that I wanted… needed .

Because I had a bad habit of being too bold. A bad habit of saying and doing whatever the fuck I wanted. A bad habit of defying the rules and taking what was mine. Because I was stone, and granite, and quartzite. Because I was like a tornado and a volcano and a hurricane.

But I was never like that with her.

Mara had a way of undoing me, of making me soft and lithe. A part of me hated it because it scared me. Because the only way I had survived living in my father’s house for twenty-one years was by becoming stone. To not give a fuck and tell the world to go to hell.

But the day I met Mara was the day I began to crack. Fracture lines webbed through my defenses, and I knew it was only a matter of time before I lost my castle walls to her, and they would all come tumbling to the ground.

I didn’t care.

It didn’t matter anymore.

Because something greater was stirring in the rubble of my ruined rock. Something stronger and fiercer and more imposing was growing and shaping and brewing. And it was intoxicating. It was powerful. And it was all because of Mara.

Because of what she did to me.

Because of what she does to me.

Because of what I had to do for her.

Because of what I wanted from her.

Fucking always .