let out a breath. “Never again.”
Her heart stopped. Never again…?
“Never again do I want to be without you.”
Her heart had barely kicked back on when Mark cupped her face and peered deeply into her eyes. “I want to be with you tonight,” he said.
“Here in the hospital?”
“Here. And tomorrow night. The next night, too.”
She swallowed hard. “What happened to day-to-day?”
“It went to hell,” he said. “Do you have any idea how addicting you are? The minute I’m away from you I’m already thinking about the next time I’m going to see you. Touch you. Taste you.”
“That sounds like sex.”
“It’s always been more than sex, Rainey. Always. You said you love me.” He gently set his finger on her lips when she would have spoken. “That threw me. You throw me. You were unexpected, and you’ve changed my endgame. And then you-” His eyes burned hot emotion. She was surprised when he wrapped his arms around her and buried his face between her breasts, breathing deeply. “You could have died before I could tell you.” His grip on her tightened. It wasn’t something he’d ever done before, taking comfort from her instead of offering it. Eyes burning, she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him in even closer.
“I can’t remember my life before this summer,” he said, lifting his face. “Before you came back into my world. I don’t want to be without you, Rainey. I’ve known that for a while, before what happened to you today, but I guess I thought knowing it made me weak.”
And he wasn’t a man who had any patience with weaknesses, especially his own. She laid her cheek on top of his silky hair. “And now?”
He let her see everything he was feeling. “I don’t give a shit whether it makes me weak or not. You’re the only thing I care about. I love you, Rainey. I think I always have. You make me feel.”
“What do I make you feel?”
“Everything. You make me feel everything.”
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