Heat rushed through his body, concentrating on where they were joined. To feel this connection after so goddamned long, Christ, it was like a welcoming song, a homecoming. It shook the very foundation of his soul. “Fuck, Amber. I missed you.”
Clutching the diagonal rungs of the lattice, she whimpered against his chest. He ground his hips and flexed his ass to deepen the penetration.
He ran his hands over her full chest and around her curvy hips, pulling her to him with a fury of slamming drives. She didn’t lower her legs or let go of the trellis as he gripped her hair, jerked her head back, and bit her below the ear. Despite the threat of outside, her movements were more confident than they’d ever been, her pelvis circling and rocking as she met him thrust for thrust.
His release swelled to the brink of explosion, and he grunted. “Come for me, Amber. I want to hear you.”
She threw her head back and let go, her body shaking and her moans warbling into the night sky. It swept him away, wrenching the orgasm from his body in trembling waves.
As he came down, their lips met in a kiss so simple and tender, so honest and familiar, it left him split open and helplessly, shamelessly, filled with devotion. He pulled her to his chest, and they stood in silence, their arms wrapped around each other.
“Told you he’d find you.” Liv’s voice chimed through the darkness.
He yanked up his jeans and glared at her over his shoulder. “Do you mind?”
“Not at all.” She leaned against the deck railing and watched them pull on their clothes. “Stalkers are hard to get rid of.” Not a hint of emotion on her face, but a smile lifted her voice. Yeah, Liv had been a stalker once, too.
Amber’s arms coiled around his waist, her cheek resting on his chest. “This one’s not so bad.”
“So you’ve said.” Liv straightened and walked toward her back door. Then she paused, her eyes locked with his. “When you’re done there, swing by. You still owe me a meeting.”
He tightened his arms around Amber’s back and closed his eyes as a weightless rush drifted over him. When he looked up, Liv was gone. But her offer lingered. He pressed his lips against the top of Amber’s head. “You’ve been busy.”
She shrugged. “She has something you want.”
His pulse raced. “You think she’ll—?”
“Go find out.”
Ten minutes later, his racing heart neared detonation as he stood outside a spare bedroom in Liv’s house. He squeezed Amber’s hand and strained his eyes to make out the shadowed shapes within the room.
“She’s just staying the night,” Liv whispered. “If you wake her, I’ll kill you.”
He was already moving through the dark room, his mouth dry and adrenaline surging through his blood. Amber lingered in the doorway, her supportive smile holding him upright.
Stunned and hypnotized, he reached the bed and soaked in the shaded blur of Livana’s dark eyelashes and dainty features. Her tiny fingers curled around the pillow, her slender frame cocooned in bedding. Christ, she was even more precious in person.
Reaching down, he ran trembling fingers over a wisp of her hair. The soft texture seeped through his touch, vividly bright and so damned real.
He could stand there all night, and he did for a long time, breathless and overcome. A cleared throat in the hallway jerked him into awareness, and slowly, reluctantly, he stepped away.
Liv waited outside the bedroom with Amber and Joshua, rigid in her statue-like posture as she watched him approach. When he reached her, her eyes flickered, right before he yanked her into an embrace.
Her arms hung at her sides, her body stiff and unyielding. Beside her, Joshua leaned against the wall, his gaze soft and thoughtful and fixed on Liv.
Van lowered his forehead to her shoulder. “I’m sorry. For keeping her from you. For taking you from your mother. It’s too late for apologies. Fuck, I know this, but I’ll do whatever I can to make it up to you.”
Tense seconds passed, then her arms rose and folded around his back. She squeezed tighter, her voice thick. “This is a good start.”
He raised his head and shared a look with Amber over Liv’s shoulder, one that promised new memories. Joyful memories. She pressed a knuckle to her mouth and gave him a tearful smile.
He released Liv and moved to her side, where he belonged, surrounded by the radiance of her presence. As he stared into the brown eyes of the woman who embodied impossible dreams, he felt the future in every cell of his body. It felt crazy and beautiful and decisively unbreakable.
CHAPTER 36
Three years later...
Amber was outrunning him, fucking running circles around him. But really, how could he complain? Watching her ass flex in those painted-on athletic pants took his mind off his burning muscles and overworked lungs.
As the sun disappeared behind the skyline of downtown Austin, the city’s towers glinted with the lingering rays of yellow and gold. Too bad the humidity didn’t vanish with it. He wiped his forehead with the sweatband on his wrist and quickened his pace to catch up with that gorgeous ass.
Maybe fifty paces ahead of him, she pivoted, running backwards and grinning at him like a goon. “What’s the hold up, old man?”
Old man? He was still a year younger than she was, even if she hadn’t broken a sweat. Fucking show-off.
Pedestrians and fellow runners scurried out of their way. A dozen teen-aged boys paused their soccer game to watch her run by. He gave the fuckers a threatening glare, and they snapped from their gawking and returned to their scrimmage.
He and Amber
