Echoes at Dawn (KGI #5)(41)

Then he deepened the kiss, his tongue running over the seam of her mouth. Once, twice, the hot brush coaxing and seeking entrance to her mouth.

With a breathy sigh, she surrendered, leaning into him.

It was the closest bond she’d established with anyone outside of a telepathic connection to her sister. She craved this. Simple intimacy. A gesture of caring. Knowing that for at least a moment she mattered.

Their breaths were sporadic. Staccato, uneven and jerky.

No longer was she content with sitting there still, an inactive participant. She wanted to touch him. She wanted to taste him. She wanted to absorb him into her senses until he was all she could see, smell or feel.

When he finally pulled away, she was dazed. Unbalanced. Like she’d been knocked over by a wave and hadn’t yet regained her footing.

He gently stroked her hair, smoothing both hands down the sides of her head as he stared tenderly into her eyes.

“You’re an exceptional woman, Grace. You didn’t just survive. You overcame. You’ve been through unimaginable hell and yet you’ve fought your way back.”

She leaned into him, closing her eyes at the pleasure of his touch.

He pressed his lips against her forehead in the gentlest of kisses. “I’m going to make love to you, Grace. Not right this minute. I’m not going to pressure you or rush this. But from the moment I saw you on that video surveillance tape, you were mine. I have no explanation for it. I don’t even entirely understand the connection. But it’s there, and I think you feel it too. I’m willing to wait until the moment is right, but you’re mine.”

Her brain sizzled and nearly short-circuited. She stared back at him openmouthed as the shock of his words fully hit her.

She was utterly bewildered by his bold statement. It hadn’t been a question or even a hint of wishful thinking. He’d stated it as matter-of-factly as he gave orders to his men.

And the way he was staring at her…If she had any doubt as to the truth in his statement, the look in his eyes convinced her that he meant every single word.

An ache began deep in her heart. Deeper, to her very soul. Longing rose swift and piercing. How long had she dreamed of having such closeness with a man? Someone whom she didn’t have to worry about knowing her secrets.

Rio already knew. He accepted.

He’d said she was his.

She’d never truly belonged to anyone. Not even to the people who’d claimed they were her parents and had raised her most of her life. She’d only ever had Shea. No one else had ever gotten close to her.

“I don’t know what to say,” she finally managed to get out.

Rio’s smile was gentle but assured. “There’s nothing at all to say, Grace. You’re mine. You’ve been mine from the beginning. You never ng.ilestood a chance once I decided that I was going to be the man who brought you home.”

CHAPTER 19

GRACE was light-headed, unsteady on her feet, and gone was any lingering pain or sorrow over her failed connection to her sister. Her mind buzzed with Rio’s bold statement.

What did it mean?

What exactly did it mean?

She couldn’t even begin to grasp the ramifications or the reasons why. Before the last year, she would have said she was an attractive enough woman. Did any woman truly consider herself beautiful? But Grace hadn’t had any serious esteem issues. She was just shy and awkward when it came to any sort of personal relationship.

Growing up as she and Shea had done, there’d never been any opportunity for Grace to have friendships or an eventual boyfriend, much less an involved relationship.

But in the last year, she’d lost a lot of her strength. Her tone. The fitness regimen she’d always adhered to had no doubt saved her because had she not been as strong as she was going in, she wouldn’t have been strong enough to survive the unimaginable.

She was thinner now. Worn. Fear and fatigue seemed to surround her. Men weren’t attracted to timid little mice, were they? They at least wanted someone who was stable and not a complete head case who’d tried to kill herself and was sorry she hadn’t been able to.

Besides all that, how could she or he even entertain the thought of any sort of…well, anything!

Rio caressed the sides of her face. “I didn’t say all that to frighten you, Grace. Subtle and tactful are two things I’ve never been accused of. I’m blunt and I don’t like or play games. This is the only way I know how to be, so I’m sorry if that makes you uneasy.”

She didn’t even have a response for that. What could she possibly say anyway?

He feathered another kiss over her lips and then solved the issue of what the hell she was supposed to say back to him by turning her toward the path leading to the falls.

“We should get back. While it’s safe here, I still don’t want to leave you exposed for long periods of time. I want you to work on the things we talked about, though. Try meditation and the mental exercises I gave you. Keep working at reestablishing the path between you and your sister. It’ll come in time.”

She tugged on his hand to make him stop his progress around the back of the falls. When he turned with an inquisitive look on his face, she leaned up on tiptoe and initiated her own kiss.

It was shy, awkward and not nearly as toe curling as Rio’s had been. In fact, she couldn’t back up fast enough once she’d brushed her lips across his.