A Love Worth Living (20 page)

She shook in his arms as her tears dampened his cheek.

“Don’t cry, darling. He’s not worth it.”

“You dunce,” she said, her voice muffled by his neck. “I’m crying for you.”

A chill worked through his body. What had he ever done to deserve her? “Don’t, Care. You’re right. I did think saving you could make up for whatever I’d done wrong with Aaron.” He seized her shoulders and separated their bodies enough to look into her eyes. “But you couldn’t see yourself the way I did when you stepped through that airport gate. It terrified me.”

“Why not talk to me?”

His harsh laugh stung even his ears. “Talking didn’t seem like an option, especially when you were in a downward spiral and refusing treatment.”

“This is my
life
, David.”

Pain lanced his chest. “And that’s exactly what I’m trying to preserve—this life, as you’ve built it for yourself, even if it has come at a cost. Years of hiding your every thought made you quite adept at seeming like you’re always okay.”

Her mouth tightened, and a muscle in her jaw twitched.

“I stepped in because I couldn’t stand to see anything happen to you. Not some generic patient or another coworker—you. I wouldn’t have done this for anyone else.”

Her eyes softened and her hand reached for his. “David—”

He shook his head. “The thought of losing you, even when I never really had you… I couldn’t bear for you to get to the point of burnout, because it would kill something integral to who you are. Seeing that would kill something inside of me too, Care.”

She shifted, wrapped her arms around his torso. God, he needed this, needed her warm, soft body pressed against his so close he didn’t know where he ended and she began.

He cupped her cheeks in his hands like the delicate treasure she was. “I want you to have a love worth living for—mine. I love you, Care. I have for months.” He pressed a fleeting kiss on her forehead.

“But—”

She didn’t get a chance to object further. He consumed her words with his lips, thrilling when she uttered a soft sigh and melted against him instead of arguing.

Her hand found his buttons and eased them from their holes one at a time, then spread the sides of his shirt to expose his chest. He hauled Carrie against himself. Soft breasts pressed against his heart. She settled on top of his erection and snuggled against him. Damn, he could feel her heat through his jeans.

With a groan he broke the kiss to strip her out of her top. The expanse of pale skin framed by tan lines made his mouth water. His mouth descended to lick and nibble her neck. He left a trail of goose bumps in his wake.

Little whimpers impelled him to remove her bra and take one waiting nipple into his mouth.

“More.” She gasped and urged him closer with hands against his neck.

He loved how demanding she was in the bedroom, taking what she needed and leaving intense pleasure in return.

He sucked harder, drawing more of her breast into his mouth before he pressed his teeth into her smooth skin. She jolted in his arms, and his cock twitched along with her. When she writhed her hips against him, his control snapped.

He stood and hauled Carrie into his arms. Her laugh was carefree as he made for the bedroom.

God, he could listen to that sound and be a happy man forever. He deposited her on the bed and stepped back, reaching for some modicum of control. “Strip.”

She arched a sassy eyebrow at him and slid her hands from her neck, down her torso, over her breasts and taut abdomen, to reach her waistband. He groaned and shed his pants and boxers.

“Decided to punish me, huh?” David kept his distance. The grin on her face was worth a little discomfort on his end.

She licked her lips and David clenched his fists to avoid touching her.

“I wouldn’t call it a punishment, per se. It’s more a reinforcement.” She caught his gaze. Her intent look probably would have been more effective if she hadn’t already dazed him. “I need to trust you’ll be honest with me, even with the tough stuff.” She swallowed and slid out of her pants.

He moved to the edge of the bed and sank to his knees. The view was perfect.

Carrie snapped her fingers in front of his eyes. He shifted his gaze to her and reveled in her quiet beauty. “If you ever hide from me again, David, and expect me to be the only one exposed, it’ll break me.”

David reached for her body and stroked a hand up her leg, along her waist and up her side until he cupped her face in his palm. “I promise.”

His thumb slipped across her lips. Her tongue darted out to flick across the tip. He shuddered and somehow regained enough control to finish what he’d started.

“But—” he stressed, and her growing smile froze, “—that implies we have a future together to begin with.”

She went still, and he rested a hand against her heart. “Yes, it does.” Her voice, solemn and a little afraid, jabbed at him.

“Damn right it does. I love you, Carrie Farrow.” She might never return the words, but he could no longer hold them back.

She started, faltered and tried again. A tremor racked her body. “I’m scared.”

He covered her body with his, then parted her legs and settled between them. She shivered.

He wrapped his arms around her, holding her closer. “I also promise to hold you every time you fear something.”

She nodded. He swiveled his hips against her, and she sucked in a breath as he dragged the tip of his erection across her clit.

“What if I lose you?” Her words held years of pain. He kissed her to take her sorrow onto his shoulders. Her arms encircled his neck and kept him close, even after his lips left hers.

“I can’t promise you won’t.”

Her eyes closed in pain. He nuzzled her hair and imprinted this moment on his memory. The light citrus smell of her shampoo, the way her body cradled him…

“I’m just as terrified to lose you. But what I can promise is I will love you every moment I’m on this earth.”

The love in her eyes pinned him in place. “Make love to me, David.”

That’ll do.
His heart burst, and he held her close as he slipped inside her and moved slowly, gently, until her nails scored down his arms.

She tightened around him, and her moans jumped up an octave. She sounded so close…

She pulled him down for a kiss. Her tongue dipped into his mouth, danced with his. She tasted like his future.

He tilted her hips and thrust deeper, but never broke from her lips. No kiss had ever aroused him so much. This was one for the history books.

“David, more!”

What could he do but obey? His pace kicked up until she quivered in his arms.
Yes
became her chant to the rhythm of his hips, and she tensed beneath him, then came with a beautiful cry.

As she shook, her core clenched around him until he lost control and followed her into mindless release.

“Did you mean it?” Carrie asked once they’d both caught their breath.

He rolled to the side and snuggled her against his side. “Every word. Always. And so you don’t forget it—” he reached into his bedside table and snagged the little box he’d hidden there earlier, “—you can wear this to remind yourself.”

With an arched eyebrow, she pulled off the lid to the white box. “It’s beautiful!”

The copper starfish had made him think of her—the color of her hair, her resiliency. When he’d seen it at the aquarium earlier, he knew she had to have it. “Let me put it on you.”

Her eager hands pushed the box at him. She turned and lifted her hair from her neck. Fiddling with the clasp, he finally separated the sides, draped it over her head and kissed her neck before he latched it into place.

“I love it.”

He sprinkled kisses on her skin, so thankful she had let him in.

She shifted so she could rest her head against his heart and linked their hands together. The silence stretched into infinity and contentment flooded his body.

On the edge of sleep, happier than he’d been in his whole life, she whispered in his ear.

“I love you too, David. You can bet on that.”

About the Author

Skylar Kade, self-avowed hedonist and princess extraordinaire, started her writing career after throwing aside yet another romance she could not bring herself to finish. The run-on sentences! The purple prose! Oh, the horror of it was just too much. So she sat down to write her own tale. Her favorite part about writing is the extensive research.

She currently resides in sunny Southern California, alternately cursing the polluted air and adoring the weather. Skylar spends her time asking the cabana boys to bring her more mimosas and feed her strawberries while she dreams up her next naughty adventure.

You can sign up for her newsletter, keep up with new releases and more at
www.skylarkade.com
.

Skylar blogs at the
SkylarVerse
:
skylarkade.wordpress.com
and with the
Nine Naughty Novelists
:
www.naughtynine.com

You can also find her on:

Facebook
:
www.facebook.com/authorskylarkade

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:
www.twitter.com/skylarkade

Pinterest
:
www.pinterest.com/skylarkade

Goodreads
:
www.goodreads.com/skylarkade

Look for these titles by Skylar Kade

Now Available:

The Maison Chronicles

Maison Domine

His Only Hope

Coming Soon:

Playing with Fire

This time, he’s not giving her up without a fight.

His Only Hope

© 2011 Skylar Kade

After two grueling years caring for her terminally ill mother, Hope O’Shea is eager to start fresh. Except her first interior-decorating job is for a popular BDSM club—part of her kinky past she misses, but had to leave behind.

Worse, she somehow ends up in the arms of her ex-Dom, Gabriel Cassidy. The one man who could strip her emotions bare, so bare that rather than reveal her painful history, she ran.

Gabriel never understood why Hope left without even a goodbye. Determined to get answers, he entices her to Maison Domine for a weekend on the promise of meeting the owner for another decorating job. Except being with her again reminds him why he loved her in the first place—and why she shouldn’t trust him as her Dom.

As their attraction reignites, Hope is transported back to the sub-space bliss she felt only with Gabe. Then a nightmare from her past shows up at the club, and with no other safe place to turn, she has no choice but to trust Gabe with her shame. Leaving Gabe with a devastating choice—reveal his last secret…or lose his Hope.

Warning:
This book contains a feisty interior decorator, a dominating leather worker, heart-wrenching sex and redemption.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
His Only Hope:

Hope O’Shea thought she’d never set foot in The Sunset Strip ever again. She’d been out of the scene for two years, which had been good for her. She shivered, remembering the handful of times she’d come here.

On her return to LA, Melina, the Mistress who owned the popular BDSM nightclub, contacted her to redesign the whole place. Dammit, the things she did for old friends and new clients.

This Saturday night, like most, the club’s otherwise inconspicuous entrance saw an overwhelming amount of foot traffic. Housed in a ’50s-era office building, it was impossible to guess what the dark brick walls held, so long as one ignored the interesting mix of characters entering and exiting.

Hope shook her head, exorcising thoughts of the past. Strands of newly cut and dyed auburn hair flew into her eyes, and she brushed them away. She missed the convenience of ponytails, but her stylist assured her the shorter hair was “chic and professional”.

“It’s now or never, Hope.” She nodded at her reflection in the visor mirror and used the lure of a giant paycheck to shore up her courage before leaving the safety of her SUV.

Her spike heels, three inches high and fire-truck red, clicked on the pavement from the large parking lot across the street to the club entrance. Clammy hands smoothed invisible wrinkles out of her new black pantsuit. It wasn’t proper scene attire, but it would have to do, because even if her old corsets and lingerie hadn’t been too big on her, she wouldn’t have worn something seductive for a business meeting.

The red French doors loomed ahead and an invisible weight settled on her chest. Despite her work with a therapist and her progress, panic attacks still loomed like storm clouds.

Too tense, that was her. She poured herself into work, eschewing any distractions in order to build her client list. Maybe once she had her business up and running she could try to find vanilla recreations.