Page 68 of Such A Bad Girl

Tears sprang to her eyes as she squeezed my hand back. “Thank you, Theo.”

She intertwined her fingers with mine and my heart skipped a beat.

Something so simple. So easy. Her hand in mine. And yet, I dreamed a million times of doing it and never thought it would happen, not in a million years.

Everleigh had always been my forbidden fruit.

I’d always known how delicious and addicting she would be if I tasted her. I was right. And now, I couldn’t get the taste of her out of my mouth.

Now, I wanted more than a taste. I wanted all of her.

Later, when we got to her place, I had her wait in the truck while I searched through the rambling mansion to make sure we were alone. Once I was satisfied we were safe, I walked back out to the car and opened her door.

“It’s safe. Let’s go inside.” I grabbed her hand and led her into the house.

Once we were in, I locked the door behind us firmly.

And then I did the one thing I’d been dying to do since I saw that she was alive and safe for the first time in that fucking basement.

I pulled her close and wrapped my arms around her as tightly as I could.

She melted into me, laying her head on my chest and letting me hold her. My hand landed on her hair, cradling her head tenderly against me.

“Oh, Ev,” I whispered, my voice cracking with emotion. “I’ve been dying to wrap my arms around you.”

“I’ve wanted this for so long,” she murmured.

“I love you, Ev. Forever.”

“I love you, too, Theo,” she smiled, her face shining like sunshine on my soul, warming it, nourishing it, loving it. I thought it might burst out of my chest from pure joy.

She sighed, her entire body humming against mine. We stayed like that for a long while, absorbing the comfort our spirits so desperately needed. When she looked up at me after a few moments, the storm raging in her blue eyes told me everything I needed to know.

Enchantingly beautiful, the emotion played across her face like a poem in the midst of being created, my own heart drowning in the silence.

We didn’t need words.

We didn’t need promises.

We didn’t need to dig up painful memories of our shared past.

All we needed right then and there was each other, the comfort and familiarity and newness of our connection, all swirling around together in a temptation that neither of us could continue to ignore.

My lips melted against hers like they were home.

At long last, they were exactly where they were meant to be…

Chapter Forty-Four

EVERLEIGH

This.

This.

This.

This is what I wanted. Theo’s lips, Theo’s hands, Theo’s body….