She started walking toward me, and I stood up and went to her. “I need you upstairs. Now.” The desperation in my voice seemed to surprise her, but she didn’t question me.

I grabbed her hand and pulled her toward my door. I had to hurry and get her tucked safely into my room. Away from them. I tugged her inside and closed the door, before turning to her and pressing her against the wall.

I ran my hands down her body, memorizing each curve. It wasn’t enough. I needed the clothes off. Grabbing the front of the shirt she was wearing, I ripped it open. I didn’t have time for buttons. She gasped, and I covered her mouth with mine. I stabbed her sweet warmth with my tongue over and over, while I made quick work of the snap of her shorts and jerked them down her legs. She was naked. My Blaire. My perfect, sweet Blaire.

Growling against her mouth, I knew I needed more. She wasn’t leaving me. I couldn’t let her leave me. I pushed her back onto the steps and jerked her shoes off, then pulled her shorts and panties the rest of the way off. Completely naked. Just for me to see. No one else. Ever. Just for me.

Falling to my knees, I pushed her legs apart and ran my tongue up her slit, lapping at the clit that was already swollen and ready for me. Blaire cried out my name and fell back on her elbows. Her thighs fell open more as I slid my tongue inside her, before running it along the tender folds again. My name was a chant on her lips. I began kissing the soft skin of her thighs, and she trembled with needy whimpers.

“Mine. This is mine.” Lifting my head, I looked at her. “Mine. This sweet pussy is mine, Blaire.” It was mine.

She shuddered as I pressed my finger inside her heat.

“Tell me it’s mine,” I demanded.

She nodded as I slipped my finger further inside her.

“Tell me it’s mine,” I repeated.

“It’s yours. Now, please, Rush, fuck me,” she said, panting.

Yes! That was my girl. Yes, she was mine. She needed to know she was mine. This was mine. Standing up, I jerked down the pajama pants I’d been wearing and kicked them aside. “No condom tonight. I’ll pull out. I just need to feel all of you,” I told her.

I would never put a condom between us again. I never wanted to be separated from her. Grabbing her thighs, I moved her up as I shifted down and lined my cock up with her entrance. I couldn’t slam into her if she was sore. God, she had to be so damn tired, but I had to have her. Slowly, I moved inside her.

“Does it hurt?” I asked, holding myself over her.

“It feels good,” she said with a sigh.

I was going to hurt her. I stopped and pulled out. “These stairs are too hard for you. Come here.”

I picked her up in my arms and carried her up the stairs. She was too fragile tonight to press against the hard wooden stairs.

“Will you do something for me?” I asked her, peppering kisses on her nose and eyelids while I stood beside my bed.

“Yes,” she replied.

I set her down on the floor and held on to her, even after her feet touched the rug. “Bend over and lay your chest flat on the bed. Put your hands over your head, and leave your ass stuck up in the air.”

I had fantasized about seeing her this way. She didn’t ask why or argue. She simply did it. Knowing she wanted to please me so easily made the panic grow. She was it for me. She had to know that.

I ran my hand over the round, smooth ass that she so willingly presented to me. “You have the most perfect ass I’ve ever seen,” I told her as I caressed it. Taking a firm hold of her hips and moving her legs farther apart, I entered her in one thrust.

“Rush!” Blaire cried out.

“Fuck, I’m deep.” I groaned, and my eyes rolled back in my head. Better than I had imagined. It was always more with her. Always fucking more.

I began pumping inside her. She pressed back against me and grabbed handfuls of sheets as she made loud moans and pleas for more.

Hearing her pleasure made me push harder. I couldn’t get deep enough. I wanted to live in here. Locked inside her. The tight suction grabbed my cock, making my knees buckle. I was close. Reaching down between her legs, I slid my hand over her pussy. “God, you’re soaking wet.”

My words were all it took. Blaire bucked back against me wildly, calling out my name. It took all my control to pull out of her and shoot my release onto her ass. I wanted it inside her. My pleasure mixed with hers. But I couldn’t do that again. Yet.

“Gaaaah!” I yelled, as my cock jerked in my hands and shot my load all over her smooth back. Seeing myself there made me feel like I had marked her. I could see it. Me all over her. “Damn, baby, if you only knew how fucking incredible your ass looks right now,” I said.

She fell onto the bed, no longer able to hold herself up. She turned her head to the side to look at me. “Why?”

She didn’t realize where I had shot my release. “Let’s just say I need to clean you up,” I explained.

A giggle burst out of her, and she buried her face in the covers.

I loved hearing her laugh. I also loved standing here and staring at her ass covered in my come. Those two things combined were pretty damn awesome.

She needed to sleep. I couldn’t make her lie here with my come on her because I was a fucking caveman. Moving around her, I headed for the bathroom and got a warm, wet washcloth, then headed back into the room.

I could see her eyes follow me and the sleepy, satisfied smile on her face. I had put that smile there. I didn’t know if she was supposed to work tomorrow or not, but she wasn’t working. I would deal with it. I had to talk to her. She had to know.

Her dad was here. It was time I faced it and fought for her.

I cleaned the come off her bottom. “All clean, baby. You can crawl on up and get covered up. I’ll be right back,” I told her.

But she didn’t move. I walked around and looked at her face. She was sound asleep. I smiled at the thought of her falling asleep while I was cleaning her up. The possessive beast within beat on his chest.

I picked her up and moved her to the pillow, then covered her carefully. Leaning down, I pressed a kiss to her head. “I will fix this. I swear I will make it right. I love you enough to get us through this. I just need you to love me enough. Please, Blaire. Love me enough,” I pleaded.

She didn’t move. Her slow, even breathing never changed. But I hoped she heard me in her sleep. And that tomorrow she would remember.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

I couldn’t sleep. I lay there for hours, watching Blaire sleep in my arms. She had curled up against me and clung to me as if I were her only warmth. The fear that I might never have this again was very real. As much as I didn’t want to believe she would leave me, I knew I could lose her. How would I survive that? I pulled her closer to me and held her tighter. If I could just take her and run away. Never let her know the awful truth. Why did I always have to hurt her, when all I wanted to do was protect her?

“I love you,” I whispered into her hair.

That had to be enough for us.

I watched the sun come up and the morning grow brighter. Blaire needed sleep. She’d probably sleep until noon. I had to talk to my mother and Abe before Blaire woke up. They needed to know how I felt about her. She had become my top priority. That had to be made clear.

Closing my eyes, I inhaled her and soaked in the feel of her in my arms. So trusting. Forcing myself to get out of bed, I moved her over and out of my arms. I was ready to go downstairs and deal with the truth. The ugly, horrible, sordid truth that was going to hurt her. I couldn’t stop that. I could just hope that I was enough to help her heal.

I

I pulled on my clothes and headed for the stairs, then stopped and looked back at Blaire lying in my bed. She was curled up in the covers now. Her long blond hair was fanned out over my pillow. As a child, I had often wondered if angels were real. By the time I was ten, I had decided they weren’t. That was all bullshit. I realized now that I’d been wrong.

Blaire was my angel.

* * *

Abe was standing in the kitchen, drinking a cup of coffee and looking out the window. This was the man who had abandoned my Blaire. He’d let her bury her mother and left her to figure it out all on her own.

I hated him.

He didn’t deserve Blaire.

Abe turned and met my glare. A frown tugged on his mouth, and he took another sip of coffee before turning to look out the window again. He was used to my hatred. But he had no idea how high it had risen since he’d seen me last. I wanted to start ripping his arms off his body. Just looking at him infuriated me.

“Are you going to ask about her?” I snarled.

He shrugged. “She’s here, I assume.” He assumed. He didn’t care. He just assumed.

“What fucked you up so badly that you could be so heartless?” I asked, hate laced in my words.

“A pain like you could never understand, boy,” he replied. His voice was empty of emotion.

“She buried her mother by herself, you son of a bitch. And you knew it.”

He didn’t reply.

“She is so fucking innocent and alone,” I said, needing him to acknowledge her, or I was going to lose my shit.

“She isn’t anymore, is she? Innocent and alone, that is,” he said.

My anger hit a boiling point, and I moved across the kitchen. He turned just in time for me to grab him and throw him up against the wall. “You motherfucking piece of shit! Do not ever, and I fucking mean ever, insinuate for a minute that Blaire is anything less than innocent. I will end you! I don’t give a fuck who wants you!” I was yelling.