When the Heart Falls

This time I know it's a tear that slides out of her blue eyes. "See? This is what I'm talking about. I love you, too, Cade Savage. Forever."

We kiss, melting into each other, and we don't stop kissing as I slide on the condom, lift her leg around me and guide myself into her. Our movements are slow, gentle, slight, at first, but as the passion builds, so too does our speed and frenzy. I'm undone by the soap and water, the warmth, the feel of her curves pressed against me. I never want to forget how it feels as we climax together, soaring off a cliff far more beautiful than anything we saw today. "I love you, Winter. I love you so much."

"I love you too."

Once we're in bed and dried off, I assume we're both too exhausted to do anything but sleep, but my little minx has other plans as she peppers my body with soft kisses, starting at my neck and moving down.

When her tongue flicks the most sensitive spot on my body, I growl and grab the sheets so that I don't force her into a pace she's not ready for. Her lips are so soft, tongue so warm, mouth so inviting, and when she looks up at me with her big blue eyes, a twinkle of naughty in them, I can't resist anymore.

I flip us around, making sure she is well-satisfied with my tongue before guiding her to her knees and slamming into her. Her cry is one of pleasure as her hips buck against mine.

With more force than we've used before, we dance a new dance, one where the fire burns too hot to touch and the pleasure is almost unbearable.

I make it last for as long as I can, until I feel her climaxing, her body clutching mine in waves of spasms. I can't stop myself then, my own body responding in kind until we are both soaring.

Afterwards, I hold her and kiss her head resting on my chest. I imagine what our future could hold as we plan our lives together, traveling the world, having more adventures and eventually having children. That primal urge, linked to the DNA of our species, takes over, and I'm overcome by thoughts of our baby, a child made from our flesh, from our love.

Not now, we're not ready. But someday.

So what's a year apart? We'll make it work. We have to, because a lifetime together is worth it.

In my dreams I live all of this, our future and our present, but I wake with a start.

Someone is knocking at our door.

The clock by our bed says 3 a.m. I ignore the sound and try to sleep, hoping they'll realize they're at the wrong room and leave, but the knocking continues.

Winter groans and rolls over. "What is that?"

"Someone at the door. Probably some drunk dude at the wrong room. I'll take care of it."

I slip out of bed and slide on my jeans and a shirt, then open the door ready to chew out whoever is on the other side.

But the man on the other side of the door isn't some misguided drunk dude.

It's my father.





CADE SAVAGE





CHAPTER 25





I'M WIDE AWAKE now, but wish I was dreaming, or having a nightmare. Fury burns through my veins like poison. All my worst memories crash in on me, like being pinned under the weight of a collapsed building. Pete dying. Saying goodbye to Stevie. Disappointing my father because I can't devote my life to his ambitions and take care of my brother forever. "What are you doing here?" I ask.

"May I come in?" My dad looks haggard, with lines around his eyes that weren't there before.

"Leave!" I yell at him, finger pointed at his chest, like he's done to me so often. "Leave me alone. I'm done feeling sorry for you. Done caring about what you think. Done—"

"Cade, Stevie's dying."

My arm drops like it's made of lead and my throat constricts. "What? What are you talking about? I just talked to him a few days ago. He's fine."

"I'm sorry, son. Your brother's passing away. I tried to call you."

No. God. No. I'm shaking, my breathing coming in hard gasps. All that time. All those phone calls I rejected, all those voicemails I ignored because I assumed it was my dad trying to talk me into coming home. I can't think, can't process this information in the middle of the night in France, with the woman I love just a few feet away, after one of the best days of my life. Can't process something unthinkable happening across the world to my little brother.

"If you want to see your brother one last time, we have to go now. I have two plane tickets, but I had no idea you'd be outside of Paris. If that girl across from your room didn't tell me you'd left… " My dad sighs, calms himself down, showing more restraint than I expect. "Please, Cade. He's your brother."

He thinks I won't come, that I'm so selfish I would let my brother die while I party in Paris, and he looks sad, heartbroken at the thought.

He doesn't know me at all. He never has. But I have no room left for anger. Grief, fear, despair, but not anger.