“It’s better that way. Easier.”
“For who?” Aspen challenged. “You must get lonely. And the rest of the world misses out on the gift you are.”
I scoffed. “Doubt the rest of the world sees it that way.”
The pads of her fingertips pressed into the back of my hand. “Don’t. You’re an amazing man. I see it every day. You have a gentleness in you unlike anything I’ve seen before. You just hide it under layers of scowls and glares.”
“Tender Heart…”
“I see you, Roan. The way you are with Cady. With the animals. With me. And I have a feeling the incredible things I’ve witnessed are just the tip of the iceberg.”
I turned, taking her in fully for the first time since she’d walked outside. Her beauty was staggering, but it was so much more than skin-deep. She could soothe a ravaged soul with her presence alone.
Aspen moved then, closing the distance and pressing her mouth to mine. The shock of the contact had my lips parting and my tongue moving of its own volition. No matter how dangerous I knew it was, the need for her was too great. Her taste exploded in my mouth, heaven and hell all wrapped into one. But I knew I’d happily go down in the flames.
28
ASPEN
Roan was everywhere—his hands tangled in my hair, his heat surrounding me. His taste took me under.
He pulled back, eyes wild. “Aspen,” he croaked.
“Don’t,” I whispered. “Please, don’t take it back.” I didn’t think I could handle it if he stole this kiss from me.
“Never.” The single word was a guttural oath. His hands framed my face. “I’m not any good at this kind of thing. People. Emotions.”
I looked up into those blue depths. “Seems like you’re doing a pretty good job to me.”
I wanted him to laugh, forget he’d pulled away, and lose himself in me again. Instead, he searched. Those eyes of his probed and tested. “I don’t want to hurt you. I wouldn’t mean to, but I could.”
My hands fisted in his shirt. “Yes, you’ll hurt me. Just like I’ll hurt you. But if we care about each other, we’ll mend it. We’ll learn to do better the next time.”
A muscle in his cheek fluttered like crazy. As if a silent war raged within him that I would never get to see.
I pressed a hand against his chest, over his heart. “No one has ever made me feel as safe as you.”
Roan’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. His hand trailed down, his thumb tracing the column of my neck. “Sometimes, I think you hypnotized me. Can’t stop thinking about you. Even when I should be thinking about anything else.”
Heat flared, hope rising along with it.
“I used to watch you.”
My brows pulled together at that.
Roan flicked his chin toward the mountainside covered in trees. “My cabin’s up that way. Looks out over this farm. Even before I met you, I’d sit on my balcony and watch the red-haired woman with her daughter. Always so happy. So patient. So full of life. I thought you couldn’t be real.”
His thumb trailed lower, then he pressed a hand over my heart. “But here you are, this living, breathing thing. A walking temptation.”
“Give in,” I whispered.
Roan’s eyes sparked. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”
“Then show me.”
He moved so fast I didn’t see it coming. One second, I was on the porch swing. The next, I was in Roan’s arms. My legs went around his waist on instinct as he strode into the house.
The door slammed behind us, and Chauncey lifted his head from his dog bed in question.
“Lock,” I breathed.
Roan took one step backward, flipping the top deadbolt, and then he was moving again. His long strides ate up the space. He didn’t kiss me as he moved, but his gaze was like a physical caress, stroking and teasing.
He made it to my bedroom in a matter of seconds, shutting the door behind us. He lowered me to the floor so slowly it was almost painful. My core pressed against the long, thick ridge in his pants, and I almost whimpered.
“Need you to be sure.”
I looked up into his face, infusing every bit of certainty I could into my voice. “I’m sure.”
Roan stroked his thumb across my pulse point. “Need control.”
I swallowed against the dryness in my throat. “Okay.”
That thumb trailed over my chest and down my sternum. His fingers twisted in the hem of my sweatshirt. “Arms up.”
There was a grit to his voice, a need, and it had heat pooling between my thighs. I obeyed.
Roan slowly peeled my sweatshirt off and tossed it to the floor, leaving me in my sleep camisole. His eyes flared as he drank me in. “So pretty.”
I let my arms slowly fall, soaking in Roan’s stare.
His finger traced my nipple through the delicate fabric. It peaked and tightened. “Fuck. Look at that response. So beautiful. So perfect.”
My heart sped up as need pulsed low.
“Can I have this?” Roan asked, his fingers toying with the strap of the tank top.
I nodded.
“Words, Tender Heart. I need the words.”
“Yes,” I breathed.
The camisole was gone in a flash, joining my discarded sweatshirt on the floor.
Roan stepped back, towering over me and taking in every inch of my bare skin. He stilled in front of me, looking at the scar that ran along my collarbone and down my side. I fought the urge to turn and cover myself, but before I could, Roan bent.
His lips trailed across the raised flesh. “I’d do anything to take away this pain.”
“Roan.” His name was a hoarse whisper.
“Anything,” he echoed.
Tears stung my eyes as Roan’s fingers followed his lips. He wasn’t scared of my damage. It didn’t make him flinch. He took me exactly as I was.
He kept moving, circling me, stopping behind me, and tracing a finger down my spine. “Smoother than I ever could’ve dreamed.”
“Roan…”
He pulled me flush against him, my back to his front. I could feel the need pulsing between us, his hardness nestled against my ass.
Roan slid a hand beneath the waistband of my sweatpants and under my panties. I let my head fall back against his shoulder, breathing hard.
His fingers slid down, exploring. Wetness gathered between my thighs. He cupped me. “This heat. Could burn a man alive.”
My core clenched at his words. “Roan…”
“Patience.”
I pressed my thighs together, tightening around his hand, trying to give myself more pressure, more friction. Just…more.
Roan pinched my thigh, making a tsking noise. “Behave.”
I twisted my head and bit his neck.
He chuckled, the sound only driving me higher.
“You’re mean,” I chastised.
Roan’s fingers were back, teasing and toying. “I warned you. But you said you were sure. Changing your mind?”
“Never.”
“That’s my girl,” he whispered in my ear, his teeth nipping the lobe as two fingers drove inside me.
I did whimper then. There was nothing I could do to stop it. Those long digits stroked and twisted, bringing me higher and then backing off. It was a glorious torture, and I only wanted more.
“Please,” I begged.
“Tell me what you need.”
“More,” I breathed.