Page 76 of The Moments You Were Mine

Fallon wasn’t the only one who needed the reminder. My entire world was spinning. Relief mixed with fury for whoever had done this, and behind it, fear lingered like an ugly aftertaste. Not just for her and her safety, but for me. For the wash of feelings and thoughts that had flooded me when I’d seen her on the ground. When, for a few seconds, I’d been forced to imagine my world without her and found that idea more terrifying than even the idea of not returning to my platoon.

I’d thought nothing would make me give up my spot on the teams and the promise I’d sworn to my dying grandfather. Not a damn thing. And yet, I’d been a breath away from making a bargain with the devil to do just that if it meant she was okay.

I didn’t know what to do with this new information. And I always fucking knew what to do.

At least, I had until Will had died and flipped my world upside down.

Since then, my life had taken steps further and further away from what I’d planned. Seeing Fallon sprawled on the ground, feeling the intense loss of something I’d never had the courage to make mine, had sent my world spiraling another dozen steps away from what I’d envisioned for myself.

I would have stood there, wrapped around her, until the EMTs arrived, if Fallon hadn’t moved. She pushed against my chest and took a tentative step back. I instantly wanted to drag her into my arms again. I wanted to hold on until I was convinced she was strong enough to aim fire and brimstone at me once more.

Confusion danced in her eyes as they met mine. “When I was knocked out…did you…” She swiped her cheek and then shook her head and winced again. “Never mind.”

She turned slowly, inhaling sharply before she took another step away from me. She whistled, and Daisy immediately trotted over to her. Fallon would have leaped into the saddle if I hadn’t caught her by the wrist. “Don’t even think about it.”

Her eyes met mine, flashing with heat again. “Excuse me?”

“You need to get checked out before you go bouncing around on the back of a horse. No more jiggling that beautiful brain of yours until a doctor approves it.”

“I’ve taken plenty of falls off my horse. I always get back on.”

“Except, this wasn’t a fall off your damn horse. You were unconscious, Fallon—for at least five minutes, if not longer. You need a full workup. MRI, CAT scan, the entire shebang.”

She started to argue, and I did the only thing I could think of to stop her—I put my mouth on hers. I forced myself to be gentle, to savor the softness as I barely brushed our lips together. But it sent a cataclysmic wave of heat and longing spinning through my chest and straight to my groin. Warning signs danced in my mind, and I started to pull back, but her hand fisted in my hair, pushing our mouths together more.

She kissed just like she did everything in her life. With a rushof energy. With an intensity that screamed power and control and confidence.

I lost my hold on reality, on the fact she was injured. I slanted my mouth to take better possession, slipping my tongue between her soft heat, where I encountered heaven. Salty seas and sweet yarrow and coyote mint blooms. A burst of ocean and land. Being lost in her was like being lost in sunlight dancing over the water, sparkles of light shimmering and blinding you for a brief moment.

A moment you’d never forget. A moment you savored.

And I did just that—treasured the minutes spent kissing the one woman I’d promised myself I never would. That brief mouth-to-mouth in a bar years ago was nothing compared to this, and that had been a fire I’d never quenched.

The longer I spent with my body and heart and soul tangled with her, the deeper I fell. I was lost in a well I’d never be able to climb out of, that I’d neverwantto climb out of, because now that I was here, now that I’d tasted perfect bliss, I never wanted to leave. I needed to keep this feeling. I needed to keep her and make her mine forever.

Chapter Twenty-one

Fallon

I WON’T LAST A DAY WITHOUT YOU

Performed by Katie Peslis & Jay Rouse

FOUR YEARS AGO

HER: Why’d you leave so early?

HIM: Did you need an audience for the JJ and Fallon show?

HER: What’s that supposed to mean?

HIM: Nothing. I’m still wound tight from the mission. It was better that I left before I said something I’d regret.

PRESENT DAY

Parker was kissing me.

I was kissing Parker.