Keeping Her Warm(12)

When she said she thought she should go I’d almost lost it. My razor-thin control almost snapped. If some of the men in my squadron could see me now. They used to call me Mr. Control. Now I have none when it comes to her. She shattered it the minute I saw her lying in the snow. I knew in that moment my life was about to change.

“I wanted you.” Her words are low. Almost a whisper. I tilt her head up, wanting to have her eyes on me. Eyes like nothing I’ve seen before. The deepest green I’ve ever seen. Such a contrast with her rich black hair and porcelain skin.

“Wanted?” I ask. Has something changed?

“Want,” she admits. I watch pink deepen on her cheeks. The sight makes my dick leak cum. I’ve been so fucking hard. Even after I came all over myself in the shower when she orgasmed for me. The water thankfully covered the evidence of my cum. I came like a teenager watching his first porno. It was almost embarrassing.

I haven’t had any interest in sex since before that bomb blew the hell out of me. I haven’t even taken myself into my own hand. There hasn’t been a drive. My focus has been on this town, cleaning up the mess the last sheriff left behind, taking care of my ma. All of those feelings and needs are now crashing down on me and driving me to her.

I suck in a breath.

“You’re so young,” I tell her. She’s barely eighteen. She has the whole world in front of her. But I’ve seen the world. So has she. It’s not all pretty. Monsters wait in the dark.

She needs you.

The thought pounds in my head. She’s already seen too much harshness and cruelty. She’s so small and innocent. I could shield her from it all. Take care of her.

“Do you not want me anymore?” I can see the vulnerability written on her face as she says the words.

“More than my next breath,” I admit easily, wanting to take the look off her face. I don’t ever want her to question the need and want I have for her. I want her to know I’ll always be here for whatever she might need. She’ll never find herself out in the snow all alone again with nowhere to go. Not as long as I breathe.

“Even after what Coach Snow told you? About me—”

I growl, cutting off her words. She widens her eyes. I want to tell her to fuck what Coach Snow has to say. I’ll be having a talk with the principal about her in the very near future. I knew she only used my Catherine as a reason to call me. We weren't two minutes into the call and she was edging for a fucking date. She never should have been the one to call me in the first place. She should have reported concerns to the principal, then he would have reached out to me if need be.

I don't like the thought of anyone using my Catherine. It pisses me off. It didn't help when I walked into the living room and saw Catherine gearing up to leave. I’m sure the look on my face scared her. I never want her to fear me in any way. I want her to run to me, not from me.

“Coach Snow only made it clearer to me that you need someone to look after you. To take care of you. I'm going to be that someone. I want you, Catherine. I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anything.”

“You don’t even know me,” she whispers, disbelievingly.

“I feel it. If I’ve learned anything in my life it’s to trust my gut. That feeling brought me to you yesterday. I knew you were going to go back to that house. Knew that you would be locked out and I was going to be there to make sure you were okay. I obsessed over it all day.”

Her mouth parts a little. “I feel it, too. When you picked me up, I wasn't scared. I felt safe. Then when I woke up in your arms that feeling was still there, only I felt it even deeper,” she confesses.

I smile at her. God, she’s so fucking beautiful. Earth-shaking beauty mixed with a sweet innocence. How could I not want her? Need her?

Her arms slide up my chest and lock around my neck.

“Kiss me again.” She tilts her head back a little more, offering me her mouth. My eyes go there, remembering the sweetness of her kiss before when we were in the shower. When all my control snapped.

“I don’t think I should right now,” I tell her. I’m on a razor’s edge after her saying she should leave, and I think if I kiss her now I won't stop until I’m buried deep inside her, claiming her in the most primal, basic way. Marking her inside and out.

Her lips pull tight into a line. Her eyes drop away from mine.

“Baby,” I plead as I stroke her soft cheek with my thumb. “It’s not that I don’t want to kiss you. I want that more than anything. I just don’t think I’ll be able to control myself if I do. I barely held on in the shower.”

“What if I want you to lose control?” Her eyes come back to mine. She bites her lip. I pull her lip out from between her teeth. “I want you, too. I love when you touch me. The things you make me feel. I want more.”

I growl at her words.

“Please,” she adds.

I let go of her face, and bring my hands under her ass, picking her up, feeling her bare skin against my fingers. “You don’t have to beg me for anything, Catherine. I wasn't lying when I said I was taking care of you. That means with anything and everything you might want. You want this. I’ll give it to you without question.”

I carry her the rest of the way down the hallway as my lips find hers. When her tongue touches mine it’s like coming home. A peace that I haven't felt since before I became a Ranger slides over me. All the noise and worry that always ride on my shoulders fade from my mind and there is only her.