CHAPTER 27
Kelsey stole his breath right out of his chest. Just the way she’d stolen his heart. Both now and all those years ago, talking and laughing and connecting on a deeper level than he ever had with anyone else.
Ares made himself set her down, though he never wanted to let her go. “The thought of Keira threatening you makes me crazy.”
He’d already been on his way back, trying the whole way to convince himself that desire was what drove his urge to be with her again. But when Kelsey had called and told him about Keira’s surprise blitz attack? He’d finally realized, finally accepted, just how much he felt for Kelsey. How much he cared. How much he wanted her in his arms, in his bed, in his life.
And not just for one stolen weekend.
“You were the one she was threatening, Ares.”
“She’ll use you to get at me.”
“She can try,” Kelsey said, lifting her chin. “But it won’t work.”
He stroked her cheek. She was so brave. So strong. So honest. If only he’d realized nine years ago that brave, strong, and honest
were traits worth fighting for. Even if you had to fight your own demons. Especially then.
“Tell me what she said.”
She was silent for a moment that was heavy enough for him to what had happened between them. “She wanted my sympathy. She
wanted to know where I was this weekend.” Pausing, it was obvious she had to weigh whether to continue. Her chin lifted with her
decision to tell him. “She wanted to know how I could possibly think you would have feelings for me when you could have her
instead.”
“I will crush her before I let her hurt you.” He would give away all his money, all his worldly possessions if that was what it took to
protect Kelsey. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here to protect you from her.”
“Don’t be sorry. It was good for me.” When his eyebrow rose in disbelief, she clarified. “The things she said were horrible. But
knowing I could stand up to her and defend myself? That was good. Great, in fact. Although,” she added with a small laugh, “I’m not
sure I’ll be able to watch Sleeping Beauty again any time soon. I swear she actually looked like the wicked witch when she was
yelling at me.”
It was a good sign that Kelsey could laugh. “I’ve always known you were stronger than her. So has she, which is why she worked so
hard to cut you down.” He ran his hands over her hair, needing to touch her, to know that she was safe and unharmed.
“She didn’t expect me to come back at her. Never thought I would tell her not to call me again unless she wanted to apologize to you
and ask for forgiveness.”
For Kelsey, that was huge. Family was everything to her. It was why she hadn’t deserted Keira when anyone else would have.
But then, as if some sort of dam suddenly broke inside her, she sobbed, the tears rising so quickly she couldn’t stop them. He
couldn’t stop them.
“God, sweetheart, please.” He didn’t have the right words. He could only gather her against him.
“That story I told you about swinging into the creek.” Her voice broke. “I wanted it to always be like that. I wanted to love her. For
her to love me. I wanted us to be real sisters. I wanted that so badly that I was actually dying for her to come visit me that weekend at
college when you met her. I thought we could actually be different together once we weren’t living in the same house.”
He closed his eyes, feeling her grief, his own, knowing what they’d both lost that weekend.
“And I wanted to do right by my mother, to keep my promise. But I never could. It was impossible. Keira would never let me.”
He held her, stroking her back. “It wasn’t your fault.” But she needed to let it out. He’d thought his own wounds were deep, but the
scars Keira had left on Kelsey might even be worse.
She breathed in, out, quickly, then sniffed. “I know I’m not to blame. I think I’ve known it since the day I found out what she did to
you.”
And he’d been caught in a vicious loop of believing how wrong it was to be with Kelsey because she was his sister-in-law. But the
only wrong thing was Keira. Wrong had never been finding pleasure—and peace—in Kelsey’s arms.
He was so freaking tired of feeling shitty, of feeling guilty, of feeling foolish. Most of all, he was tired of imagining that his future
could only get worse, like he was still that little kid hiding in dark corners trying to avoid the beating that was going to come
anyway.
With Keira, he had no doubt that she would fight him in as many dirty, nasty, underhanded ways as she could think of. But though
he’d fight back with every ounce of his will, he’d also take the light, the joy, and the sweetness of the present with Kelsey. Every last
moment that he could have with her—and he swore he would appreciate every single one.
He wiped the tears from her cheeks and took Kelsey’s lips again, slowly, lingeringly, tasting every inch of her mouth. “You’re so
fresh, so lovely, so real. You can’t know the number of people I meet who are phonies. Who just want something from me. But you’ve never asked for anything except my friendship. And you gave me yours without question.”
She shook her head. “I’ve always wanted more, Ares.” Yet again, her bravery astounded him as she squarely met his gaze. “I still
do.”
He kissed the corner of her eye, the tip of her nose, then her lips. He wanted to give her the promises she needed to hear, but he
couldn’t lie to her. The only thing he knew for sure was that he couldn’t walk away.
“You’re the most important person in the world to me, Kelsey.”
Her smile warmed him, a smile that came even though he hadn’t given her the word love, as she’d given it to him.
“I know I am.” Her hands moved to cover his. “But I love hearing you say it out loud.”
“I don’t know what I’d do without you. I can’t stand to even think of that.”
“Then don’t.”
She made it sound so simple.
Was it?
Could it be?
Simple or not, he hauled her up until she could wrap her legs around his waist, locking her bare ankles behind him.
“I love it when you do that,” she said. “When you act like you can’t get enough of me.”
“I can’t.” Nothing had ever been more true. And there was so much more truth she needed to know. “I love that we were friends first
before lovers. That I know you so well. That you’re part of my family.”
She kissed him as he carried her into the bedroom, then he let her feet down until she was standing before him.
“I want you so badly, need you so much.” He couldn’t believe what he was about to admit. But he could be honest with Kelsey.
Always. No matter what. “I don’t know where to start to show you how much I need you.”
Whatever he expected her to do or say in response, it wasn’t the way she scrambled back onto the mattress and grinned up at him.
“Where do you want to start?”
Sex had never been fun. It had been a minefield like all the other minefields in his life. But even after a harrowing confrontation,
after tears, Kelsey was full of life and playfulness. Damn if he didn’t need that. Badly. They both did, needed to banish the darkness
once and for all. Together.
He climbed over her, straddling her body on hands and knees. “Here.” He slid his hand up under her sweater and cupped her breast
through the lace of her bra.
“Or,” she said in a naughty voice that revved his engine hotter and faster, “you could start here.” She drew his hand out of her
sweater…and over the hot, damp apex of her thighs.
“You always were the smarter of the two of us.” He enjoyed teasing her with his words as much as his touch. “You have too many
clothes on.”
She gazed up at him, her eyes hot. “Let’s see who can get undressed the fastest.”
He’d never seen her look quite so free before. He was proud of her for standing up to her sister, for having the courage to cut her off.
But he’d tell her later, after he ravished her.
“You’re on,” he said, whipping his shirt over his head while he kicked off his shoes.
She simply started tearing everything off right there on the bed, throwing clothing every which way.
“I beat you.” She lay dazzlingly naked in the middle of the bed, completely unabashed.
“That’s only because you were barely dressed from the last time I devoured you.”
Had it really been only an hour ago that they’d fallen on each other in her entryway? It seemed like a lifetime.
He started to climb back onto the bed, but she held up her hand. “Wait.”
He stopped, one knee on the mattress. “What?”
“I want to look at you.” Her gaze stroked him like the touch of her hand. “You’re like a Greek statue. You always have been.”
He worked out every day to get this way. He and Perseus had been the puniest of the Baddricks when they were younger. “Back in
college, I didn’t have nearly enough time to work out.”
She reached out, running her fingertips over his pecs, his abs, his muscles leaping beneath her touch. Wanting more. Always more
when it came to Kelsey.
“Even in college, you were magnificent. And now I know how you feel, how you taste.” She licked her lips. “Even in my dreams, it
wasn’t this good.”
“I dreamed about you too. When we were in college.”
“You did?”
“How could I not? And then this week, I couldn’t stop dreaming again, couldn’t stop fantasizing.” He came back over her, kissing
her mouth before raining kisses down over her neck, her shoulders, the swells of her breasts until she gasped. Moaned her pleasure.
“You made all those hot little sounds in my dreams.” He slid a hand down between them. “I touched you here.” He stroked up,
gliding over her aroused flesh until she arched, her breasts caressing his chest. “Then I did this.” He rolled her to her stomach
beneath him, brought her up to her knees.
Sliding down between her legs, he parted them and breathed her in. Her hair fell over her back, and he brushed the silky locks aside
to kiss her spine, loving the way she trembled with need.
He licked and kissed and nipped, then rose up over her. “You’re so ready. So hungry. For me. Only me.” He rubbed his hard length
along the slick folds of her sex. “Just like you were in my dreams.”
He poised at her entrance, held himself there, glorying in her heat. Then he slid home inside her.
“Ares.” His name fell from her lips as she took him deeper than he’d ever thought it possible to connect with another person.
“I kissed your neck just like this.” His words were raw, overwhelmed with desire as he peppered her neck with kisses. He pushed
deeper, and her hands fisted on the sheets. When he pulled out, he forced himself to go slow, to tease her, stroke her. “I told you how
gorgeous you were.” He buried his face in her hair. “I told you how you filled up every empty space inside me.”
She cried out, her body shivering around him. And he almost lost it. Lost himself completely in her. But he needed her to know what
she did to him. How much she meant.
“In my dreams, I told you how much I loved the sound of your voice.” He groaned as she let go of the sheets and laced her fingers
with his. “I told you how I loved talking with you, just sitting, just being. Loved the way you listened.”
He tried to hold on, but he couldn’t help spinning out of control, rocking them both across the bed, keeping her hands tightly laced in
his, the spasms of her body turning him mindless.
“I told you—” Then he couldn’t remember anything else.
Except that he’d made the wrong choice long ago. At long last, he’d finally made the right one.
Kelsey was everything he could ever want, everything he could ever need. He was the luckiest guy in the world that she could still
want to be with him after all the ways he’d screwed up.
But would the heat, the joy, the power of their connection, be enough to erase the mistakes—and the darkness—of his past?
