Like someone had reached in and squeezed his heart, he closed his hands around empty air. “Alana, baby…”

She blinked rapidly as she backed away, hitting the edge of the bed. “No. I’m fine. I can go to work.”

He was at a loss as to what to do, so all he could do was try to understand. “Why? Why do you have to do this?”

Her fingers shook as she lowered her hands. “Because it’s my job.”

“That’s not a good enough reason.”

Her throat worked and when she blinked again, her lashes were damp. “It’s the only thing I have. Is that a good enough reason for you, Chandler? My job is it. There’s nothing else and focusing on my job, well, that allows me not to really dwell on the fact that I have no one. I’m not like you. I don’t have brothers and I don’t have a surrogate family. I…” She broke off, the tears welling and spilling over her cheeks. Frustration pulled at her lips as she squeezed her eyes shut. “I don’t know what else to say, and I don’t want to think about this. I don’t want to think about anything.”

Chandler did the only thing he could think of in that moment, because all he wanted was for her to stop crying. Cupping her cheeks, he smoothed away the tears. Their eyes locked, and the flicker of arousal in her stare was greater than the distrust he also saw.

“You have me,” he said, meaning it. The moment he said those words, he knew how true they were. She had him.

Her mouth opened, but he snaked an arm around her waist and carefully hauled her up against him and kissed her.

He kissed her in a way he’d never really kissed a woman before.

It was a sweet brush of lips and tender pressure, a kiss of reverence, and it shook him to the core. His hand shook as he smoothed his palm over her cheek, slowly deepening to the kiss. He expected her to fight him, but her lips parted and her tongue flicked over his first. His arousal surged hard and heavy, but he slowed it down, not wanting to hurt her or to send her running again.

But she wasn’t running now.

Alana looped her uninjured arm around his neck, her hand delving deep in his hair, holding her to him. The kiss turned fiercer, harder, and it was all her.

“Stay here,” he coaxed, letting his hand slip down, over the curve of her breast, to her hip. “Stay here and I’ll make sure you don’t think about anything.”

Alana shuddered against him and her damp lashes lowered.

He kissed the corner of her lips. “Let me take care of you, Alana.”

Her fingers tightened in his hair, causing sharp, delicious sparks of pain in his scalp. Yep, that turned him on. “Why?” she whispered against his mouth. “Why?”

“Because I want to.” He pressed his lips to her temple. “It’s as simple as that. I want to. And if you let me, you won’t regret it. You won’t think about a thing. I promise you.”

She was silent and still and then she removed her hand from his hair. His stomach tightened and he prepared for another bout of fighting.

But she placed her cheek against his bare chest and let out a deep, troubled sigh. “Okay,” she whispered. “Okay.”

Not one to waste time, especially with this woman, he slid his arm under her knees and picked her up so that her injured shoulder wasn’t placed against his chest. She didn’t say anything, just turned her cheek farther into his chest. His heart thumped heavily when he felt her lips pressed against his skin.

Oh yeah, she wasn’t going to be doing any thinking any time soon.

Carrying her back to his bed, he laid her down gently. He hovered over her, his fingers lingering above the buttons on her blouse. “How is your shoulder?”

She stared up at him, her cheeks flushed. “It burns a little and is tender to move, but seriously, it’s not bad.”

“Good.” He made quick work of the tiny buttons, parting the soft material. Sliding an arm under her back, he sat her up, and it did strange things to his heart when she rested against him. “Wait until you’re healed. The things I want to do to you…”

He carefully removed the shirt from her shoulder, sliding it over the small bandage covering the patch of skin. Dropping the material aside, he reached around her, unhooked her bra, and placed a kiss to the side of her neck.

“Is this how you’re going to take care of me?” she asked.

“One of the ways.” Guiding her down, he leaned over her, soaking in the way she looked in his bed, only in her panties. She started to cover her chest, but he caught her arms, easing them back to her sides. “You’re absolutely beautiful. No reason to hide yourself.”

A flush traveled down her throat and over her chest. Her nipples tightened under the intensity of his gaze. He smiled and then dipped his head, flicking his tongue over each nipple before sucking one into his mouth. Her moan reverberated through his skull, an erotic cocktail that made his arousal almost painful.

Her hips shifted restlessly, drawing his attention. Grinning, he kissed his way down her belly, lapping and nipping as he went. By the time he pulled off her panties, she was ready for him. He licked into her sweet hotness, groaning at the taste of what he’d been craving since yesterday. Some men thought this was a chore, but with Alana, it was a fucking blessing. Delving in with his tongue, he watched her.

Her lips parted and her breasts rose and fell seductively. When his tongue circled her clit, her head fell back against the pillow and a soft, mewling moan escaped her rosy lips.

“Goddamn,” he groaned, his eyes riveted to her face. His body ached to be inside her. There was a good chance he was going to lose it without even getting his pajama bottoms off. Release was burning through him, already on the brink of an orgasm. He’d never been this hot for a woman before. He’d never fucking cared this much.

The L word was forming in his thoughts, and what did ya know, it didn’t freak him out. It didn’t make him want to run for the hills screaming. On the other hand, it made him want to mark her, to claim her. It made him want to please her and to hear her say those words.

When had it started? He didn’t know. Was it the moment she’d burst through the door at Leather and Lace or further back, when she’d come to the house the very first time? Or was it the first time she’d cried out, coming in his arms? It could’ve been on the ride to dinner afterward or in her office, her sweet ass up on her desk. Maybe it was when she’d opened her eyes in the hospital, concerned about not wearing panties? Last night, when she’d finally curled up against him? Or just now, when he’d walked in on her, finally seeing her vulnerable.

All of his brothers had fallen hard and fallen fast, so why would he be any different? Honestly, he didn’t care what moment had made it happen.

Chandler slipped a finger in her wetness and was rewarded with a breathy moan. Taking deep breaths and putting the brakes on the way his hips unconsciously followed the movements of his fingers, he worked slowly. He was captivated by the flicker of emotions whirling across her face and drawn in by the way she rolled her hips, coaxing him deeper and faster.

“Please,” she said. “Chandler, please.”

Dropping between her thighs, he blew a hot breath over her clit, and she cried out. “I’m here, right here,” he said.

Her breaths came out in pants. “No.”

Chandler froze between her thighs. “No?”

“I don’t want that,” she said, eyes open and fixed on his face. “I want you.”

“You have me.”

A smile raced across her lips, full and absolutely dazzling. Luckiest man alive to be on the receiving end of something so fucking marvelous. “I want you in me.”

Holy shit, had he heard her right? Like being handed a winning lottery ticket and not believing it. “Are you sure?”

Fuck. Listen to him. Are you sure?

She wet her lips, and he groaned. “Positive.”

For a few second, he didn’t move, and then he was up and off that bed faster than any man had ever moved, shucking off his bottoms even quicker. He reached into the nightstand and grabbed a foil wrapper, tossing it on the bed beside her.

A breathy laugh came from Alana. “Excited?”

“You have no idea.”

…

Alana was beginning to get a good idea of how excited Chandler was as she eyed his thick, rigid erection as he rolled a condom on. Good God, he was huge and unbelievably hard, and she was also pretty sure that he was going to fuck every troublesome thought out of her head in a matter of seconds.

When she’d woken this morning, she had panicked. All the things she’d told him last night had felt like bitter ash on her tongue this morning. Never had she talked about her mother or anything with any man, but she had with Chandler, and even though she’d love to blame the pain pills, they weren’t what had done it.

And never had she woken up next to a man before, either.

Walls she had built around her had cracked wide open, and as she’d lain there, gazing at Chandler as he slept, she’d let herself feel what was building inside her. The rush of emotions was nothing short of disastrous. God, she wanted him, and not just on a physical level. She wanted a tomorrow and a weekend. She wanted a next week and a next month. She wanted a future, and she had never wanted that before.

The swelling that had taken place in her chest had been too much. She’d panicked and raced from the bed, needing the familiar—her job—but Chandler, he’d done another thing that no one had ever been able to do.

He’d chased her down, caught her, and brought her back.

And now she was here, and she wasn’t running.

Chandler swooped in, kissing her deeply, and bringing her back to the present. The taste of him lingered on her lips as he got his hands under her hips. As he sat back, he pulled her onto her knees, straddling him.