Say It's Forever (Redemption Hills #2)(107)
“Forever,” he said. He kissed my eyes. My cheeks. My soggy lips. “I love you, darlin’. Love you with every piece of me. Every hole and every scar and every hope. Everything belongs to you. To you and Juni. Do you understand what that means?”
His tongue stroked over my lips.
A moan echoed in my throat.
Edging back an inch, he watched me while those big hands peeled my shirt over my head. Then he knelt to drag my sleep pants and underwear down my legs.
Cool air brushed my flesh. Need spread out to touch every cell in my body.
Jud straightened to his full, massive height, and the man stood before me as he wound himself out of his clothes.
Nothing was said.
The room was silent except for the heated whisper of our breaths and the thunder of our hearts.
He lifted me onto the mattress and came to hover over me. He gazed down at me through the lapping shadows, one arm rested above my head, the other on my face.
“Do you understand what that means?” he reiterated, his voice low and deep.
His thumb traced my scar. Energy crashed as he rumbled the words, “It means I have you, darlin’. I have you.”
His promise rained down.
It seeped through my skin and became one with my blood.
He pushed himself inside me.
Stealing my breath. My body.
But my heart?
It was already long gone.
For a moment, we just stayed there. Joined as one.
Then I nudged him and urged him to roll to his back.
He took me with him, and I straddled this man who’d changed everything. The man who’d taken a broken, shattered life, the pieces strewn all over this country, and held the rest in the palms of his beautiful hands.
I stared down at my wicked savior as I moved over him.
As our bodies connected so perfectly.
As he touched me.
My stomach. My hips. My breasts.
Our breaths synced. Our spirits joined.
And for the first time in my life, I felt a part of someone.
Physically.
Spiritually.
Like I was not just tied with his soul, but I was a part of his existence.
“Salem.” His big hands circled my waist as he guided me in a slow, desperate rhythm.
I splayed my hands over his wide chest. “Jud.”
He rolled us again, until I was pinned, those massive arms around me. The longer pieces of his black hair fell across his face, his eyes feral, gleaming and bright, his beautiful body thrusting into mine.
“It’s you and Juni now. You’re mine. I’ll fight for you, live for you, die for you, whatever it takes.” The words grunted from his mouth. “Do you understand?”
And I lost myself to it.
To this surrender.
To his belief.
His love.
His life.
“I love you, Jud. I love you.” And I gave him the one thing that was the hardest part. “I trust you with it all.”
THIRTY-TWO
SALEM
TWENTY-ONE YEARS OLD
The lights were dimmed, and the tiny room was quiet. The only sound was the steady whooshing that pulsed at a quickened beat as the technician held the probe to Salem’s swollen belly.
Salem was sure her heart was just as big as her protruding stomach, pressing at the confines of her ribs as love overwhelmed.
As it overcame.
As her purpose became clear.
With that clarity came the devastating fear she’d waded through for the last year. A dark, ugly current that lapped at her ankles. Rose higher and higher. She knew if she didn’t learn to swim, she would drown.
Salem gulped as the technician sent an encouraging smile back at them. “Everything sounds perfect. Would you like to know the sex?”
“Yes,” Carlo insisted as he hovered over the side of where Salem lay.
“A girl…and a boy.”
His pride ballooned bigger than the rest. He turned to take Salem’s face in his hands, and he looked at her as if he adored her. “You did it. I knew you would give me an heir. A man to carry on my family name. A son to follow my path.”
Salem forced a trembling smile, tears blurring her sight and running down the sides of her face.
Carlo leaned in and kissed them. “Good girl,” he whispered before he turned and left.
They were parked at the curb on the quiet neighborhood street, and Salem struggled to breathe as she peered out at the unassuming single-story house that sat behind a white-picket fence.
Oaks grew proud and tall, their thick, full leaves dappling the ground in shadows as rays of sunlight shimmered through the branches. Birds flitted through, and the sound of children laughing and playing in the distance echoed in her ears.
The peace felt at complete odds with the barrage of fear and second guesses that filled her mind.
Was she really going to do this?
Was she brave enough?
Strong enough to see it through?
Was it a mistake?
She curled her hand tighter on the door handle as if it could keep her grounded.
Centered.
Reminding her of her purpose. The truth that she had no other choice.
Salem shifted to look at the detective who sat behind the wheel of the gray sedan. “You’re sure we will be safe here? That we will be protected?”