Page 114 of Saving the Rain
I drop the reins and rush him. My balled-up fists collide with the front of his jacket, and I shove at his chest. With a desperate snarl on my lips, my pulse absolutely howls in the side of my throat.
“How could you? Putting yourself in danger like that?” I shove him harder. “I know everything. How could you not tell me? All this time, I thought you were the meanest asshole to ever exist and that you hated everything about me. You leave me to find out by pure chance that you put your damn life on the line? He could have fuckingkilledyou. A grown man beating up a teenager? All for the sake of me?”
I’m panting. My skin prickles as I keep wailing on his chest, and something hot and wet rolls down my numb cheeks. “I didn’t deserve to be given your protection. I’ve been nothing but a worthless, piece of shit burden to you. Why the hell would you ever do that?” My arms feel like they weigh ten thousand pounds as I slam my fist into the front of his jacket with a guttural noise.
Raine traps my glove against his front. Pinning me beneath a secure hold and equally firm stare. “Have you ever stopped to think that I can’t stand to see you hurt, or suffer? Maybe I didn’t always know how to show it. I probably fucked up too many times to count, but I’m here now, doing the only thing that makes sense—not leaving you.” His voice is like velvet. A mirage from my dreams. Anything hesays in that low, rumbly tone, I swear to god, I feel right down in the depths of my soul.
Snow keeps trickling from the sky, dusting across our shoulders, eddying between us to cling to my damp lashes, melting against my lips.
I’m speechless. Limp. Suddenly sideswiped by an onslaught of fatigue—I’ve been so tired, trudging forward for this long without him—and now am so impossibly relieved that this is real, and he’s here. This is all so surreal. I can’t do anything but stare at him while my heart zooms laps inside my chest.
Studying my features, Raine traces them slowly, like he’s re-learning every single angle and slope.
“Hey, snowflake. I missed you.” The corners of his lips twitch, before his brows crease. “...wait, what’s that look for?”
“I don’t know how to feel when you call me that. I used to hate it.”
“Why?”
I sniff. Am I fucking crying? Is that what this is? I can’t remember the last time I cried. If ever. “You know why. That I’m weak and all that.”
He shakes his head, and being locked in the high beam of his gaze is a feeling I’ll never get used to. “Not in my eyes. I mean, I used to call you that purely because I knew it pissed you off... and I’m sorry.” He reaches up and brushes a thumb over my cheek. “But I don’t think of it as reflective of being weak. A snowflake is a thing of beauty. An infinitely unique pattern. It melts, yes, but that depends on its circumstances. When it transforms into water, you and I both know, that’s one of nature’s most powerful forces. Able to flow and bend and fucking move mountains. A life-giving substance.”
Yeah, I’m crying. Full, fat, rolling tears make their way over my cheeks, and my eyes swim with the impact of everything he’s saying in that calm, anchoring way he does.
“You give me life, Kayce. You’ve shown me there’s a way to move on from the hurts of a past we shared... you’re stronger than I am, because you got back up each time. I’m so proud of you, and I didn’t always know how to say those words.”
Raine dips forward and takes what belongs to him.He tugs his hat off his head and seeks out my lips. A soft, yet intense, reconnection where all the ways he’s the center of my goddamn universe crackle and explode into a roaring bonfire. His mouth presses against mine, and I breathlessly dissolve into him. I can’t help but be reeled in by him and all the ways I’m longing for his rugged, gorgeous protectiveness.
“Snowflakes are beautiful,” he murmurs against my mouth.
“You think I’m...” It’s mostly just choked-up noises, rather than words coming out of me.
“Beautiful?” He hums. A rich, life-giving sort of vibration that pours forth to fill my veins. “Of course I do. You’re so goddamn beautiful, my sweet boy.”
Feeling Raine smile against my lips is everything.
In that moment, the cracks heal, the chasm closes over, and I’m more whole than I’ve ever felt before.
Raine lets me go,but only long enough to tend to Winnie. The entire time, he’s by my side, tracking me like I’m his willing prey, as we make sure she’s settled before he collides with me again.
My brain and body are screaming for him. With every drop of blood thrumming in my veins as we crash inside the house.
It’s unspoken between us, that need to be reconnected physically. I don’t think, just act. My hands are everywhere, pawing at him, pushing him ahead of me while tugging on his clothes with frustrated whines.
He matches me the whole way. Doesn’t pause for more than enough time to discard winter gear—boots and hats and jackets are tossed haphazardly—before he’s taking me by the hand and dragging me into his body so he can kiss me senseless once more.
Fuck, I love him so much.
Threading my fingers into his hair, I meet him in pure urgency. Our teeth clash, tongues slide together, and mouths angle to fully indulge the hunger roaring low in my stomach.
“You didn’t answer me before.” Raine bites down on my bottom lip so hard it stings, and I want him to do it again. “You meant everything?”
“Every word.”
“Fuck, I hate that it took so long to get here.” He keeps walking me backward in the direction of my bedroom, with a gravely timbre coating his words.
“Wait...” I pant into his mouth, fumbling with his shirt. “How did you get to the ranch? The mountain roads are under ten feet of snow. No vehicles can get past.” I’m barely able to form a coherent string of thoughts as Raine draws back enough to do the rest of the job for me, shucking it over his head, and thank fuck he’s finally bare-chested.