I could believe him – for one night, I could believe anything. I could believe that he was the prince who would rescue me. That ours would have a fairy-tale ending. That love could be all and save all and redeem all.
So I believed and I reveled in his plans. “More,” I spurred him. “Tell me more about how it’s going to be.”
“It’s going to be like this. Always.” He kissed my forehead then the spot between my brows. “I’ll cherish you and make you beg and make you scream. I’ll be the one who breaks you, and I’ll kill anyone else who even tries.”
I closed my eyes so he could press his lips to my lids, one by one.
“I’ll dress you in my come,” he said, kissing the tip of my nose. “I’ll mark every part of your body. Your face, your breasts, your neck, your belly.”
I felt him in all those places as he mentioned them. Felt him all along my skin, even in the spots he wasn’t touching and had never touched. I felt him in the places he could never reach – in my spine and in my ribs and in my veins.
“Everywhere.” His mouth found mine, and his lips, firm and demanding and without any more words, told a thousand other tales about a future that we’d never have. He lingered and he loved. He shared dreams he’d never spoken of and showed me how they fit with mine. He rebuilt me for all the times he’d broken me before. He claimed and made me new.
And I pretended it was the kind of kiss that could make all that possible. The kind of kiss that could seal and bind and change and forgive. A kiss that couldn’t fade. A kiss that could go on forever. A kiss that could last.
Instead of what it really was – a last kiss.
CHAPTER 24
I slipped out of Reeve’s room early the next morning, without a message, without good-bye. He’d assume I didn’t want Amber to see me in his room, which was true. It didn’t need to be discussed. More importantly, I’d already said good-bye to him in the way I’d wanted to say good-bye.
The sun was still low on the horizon when I’d finished packing my bags. I didn’t want to see her, but Amber hadn’t given me any details about my flight. Waking her early would at least feel satisfying.
But when I got to her room, it was empty.
What’s more, her bed, though rumpled, didn’t look really slept in. Like, maybe she’d gotten in, but hadn’t stayed there. And when I looked around the room more closely, I saw that the vanity was clear, and her makeup and toiletries were in disarray on the floor nearby.
The hair on the back of my neck stood up. It was too soon to panic, but I had an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach.
Then I remembered Tabor. He’d been on guard all night, and I hadn’t seen him as I’d gone into her room. I headed outside to look for him.
I found him relatively soon, on a deck chair at the side of the house. “You’re asleep?” I screamed, shaking him awake. “What the fuck?”
“Sorry!” He sat up abruptly. “Sorry. I must have just dozed.” He stifled a yawn.
“Just dozed?” I was almost too livid to speak coherently. “Are you sure? Because Amber’s not in her room.”
“You’re kidding me, right? She was there last night.” He looked worried but I wasn’t sure if it was because she was missing or because he thought I might get him in trouble.
“How long was she —” I stopped midsentence. “Jesus, I don’t have energy for you.”
I left him calling after me, heading straight for the one place I thought I’d never be again.
“Reeve. Wake up,” I said, perching on the edge of his bed. He opened his eyes immediately, and I got right to the point. “Amber’s not in her room,”
He blinked several times. “What time is it?”
“Half past six.” I forced myself to speak slowly even though my mind and heart were racing. “Her bed doesn’t look slept in. And Tabor was asleep when I went looking for him.”
“Tabor was asleep? I’ll fucking kill him.” He sat up, his body on high alert as he flung the sheets off him and opened the drawer next to his bed. From there, he pulled out a black cloth bundle and unwrapped it as we spoke. “Last night, when you talked to her…?”
“It was fine. We were…” I let the sentence fall away. I didn’t want to tell him about the conversation I’d had with her before coming to his room and right now those details seemed lengthy and irrelevant. “She wasn’t upset when I left her. Everything was good.” Good for her, anyway.
Reeve paused, his tone hedging on reproach. “Then you didn’t tell her —?”
I cut him off. “I did. I told her about us. I promise. But she and I were settled when we parted.” His expression said he knew there was something fishy in my report. “We were fine, Reeve. Just, find her. Please?”
He stood up and nodded, accepting even if not convinced.
The object in his hands, I saw now, was a handgun. I shivered at the sight of the black steel, not because I was afraid of guns necessarily, but afraid of what it might mean. Reeve, however, moved with confidence and no hesitation, like he knew what he was doing. He clicked a magazine into place and crossed to his dresser, where he grabbed a belt from the top drawer. After threading it through the loops of his jeans, he strapped on a holster.
“Was there any reason in particular you were trying to find her so early?” There was no suspicion in his tone. He was merely a man sorting out the details.
“I was up and thought I’d catch her before breakfast.” Guilt stabbed through my chest, but I wasn’t sure if I felt bad because of what I was keeping from him or because of what I’d kept from her.