Love in the Light (Hearts in Darkness, #2)(2)

Makenna nodded. “I agree, but I’d rather not have to explain to my brothers why we were late.” Which would be a total nightmare. They’d be like a pack of lions fighting over a meaty carcass, not giving up until they’d made her spill. Then, like the pains in the asses they could be, they’d spend the day making up all the juicy bits she wouldn’t tell them to embarrass her—and Caden. No way was she letting that happen. Caden was nervous enough.

His expression darkened and his eyes shuttered, just a bit. Enough to reveal just how anxious he was about the trip.

“I want you, Caden,” she said, hoping to pull him back from wherever he’d gone. She stroked her fingers down his strong back. “And I need you. However I can have you.”

The shadows disappeared from his face and he finally nodded and quirked a half smile. “Hard and fast it is, then.”

Yes, please!

He reached to the nightstand and pulled a condom from the drawer, then sat back to roll it on.

“Love it hard and fast,” she whispered, watching him. Her gaze raked over the cut muscles of his chest and stomach and traced down from the yellow rose tattoo on his left pec to the large black tribal that wrapped around his side. Everything about him—his ink, his piercings, even his scars—was so damn sexy.

“Then hold on tight.” The words had barely spilled from his lips before he was right there, probing her entrance, pushing into her, filling her with that delicious sensation of fullness that left her breathless, wanting, completed. He wrapped himself around her and leaned his cheek against hers. “So good, Makenna. Every time is so f*cking good.”

Buried deep inside her, he devoured her mouth in a molten-hot kiss, and then he pulled free but held his face just above hers. His hips rocked and thrust and ground, picking up speed and demanding that she take more of him, all of him. He stole her breath and her ability to think and her heart until there was nothing left of her that he didn’t own. Utterly and completely.

The depth of her emotions pricked at the backs of her eyes and made it so that all she could do was grasp his back and hold tight as his hips flew against hers. Because it was so much better than good.

How was it possible they’d only known each other for two months?

They’d met after spending a night trapped in a pitch-black elevator together, and their bond had been fast and deep—built on conversation that had revealed how much they had in common and a physical attraction that transcended appearances. If there’d ever been a silver lining around an otherwise bad situation, it had been having the freedom the darkness allowed to get to know him. And for him to get to know her. Since then, they’d been nearly inseparable.

Now, Makenna couldn’t imagine her life without Caden Grayson.

And she hoped she’d never have to.

*

An hour later, Caden sat on the edge of the couch in Makenna’s homey living room. His knee bounced. Tightness squeezed his chest. His teeth ached from how hard he was clenching his jaw.

What a f*cking misfit.

Makenna was everything Caden was not—polished and out-going and able to put others at ease with her warm smile and her ready, open laughter. In the two months they’d been together, she’d totally embraced his friends and his interests and his world—inviting the guys at the firehouse over for dinner, cheering on his softball team, and even delivering a big tray of homemade brownies and chocolate chip cookies to the station. Hell, Makenna had all the guys there wrapped around her little finger at this point. And Caden was sure they looked at him and wondered how the hell he’d gotten so lucky.

Because he certainly wondered. Every damn day. And it made him sure it couldn’t last. Or wouldn’t. He couldn’t be that lucky. At least, he’d never been before.

He shook his head and chuffed out a frustrated breath.

For the most part, he was a loner who was only comfortable around the guys he worked with and a small group of long-time friends. Over the last two months, Makenna had worked her way inside that small circle, after having broken down his walls and accepted all the bullshit she found behind them. He’d never been happier in his life. And he was having a damn hard time trusting it.

In his experience, happiness didn’t last. Instead, it was ripped from you when you least expected, tearing you from the ones you loved and leaving you all alone. It was why he’d never before pursued a serious relationship with a woman. Until Makenna. Who was like a force of nature with her honesty and her positivity and her acceptance and her touch. He hadn’t been able to resist the temptation of having something so good, something that might be able to shine some light on all his darkness.

“Okay, I’m ready,” Makenna said, walking into the living room from the bedroom. She wore a beautiful smile and a lavender sweater over a pair of tight, sexy jeans tucked into knee-high brown leather boots. And, God, she was so damn pretty. Long, wavy red hair that he loved to play with swept across her face and settled around her shoulders. Her blue eyes were heaven in a stare, and saw right through all his masks. But instead of finding him unworthy—the way he felt—all that shined from those baby blues was affection and unconditional acceptance.

It slayed him. It really f*cking did. Because she looked at him and never seemed to see all the defects he felt down deep.

“Great,” Caden said, rising and swallowing the sour taste in the back of his throat. On the one hand, he wanted to meet her family. They were important to her, and so far in their relationship, he hadn’t done nearly enough to meet her friends and get to know those she cared for the most. He owed this to her, and he wanted to be man enough—just once—to walk into a roomful of strangers and act like a normal freaking human being.