Need me, Shea.” His voice ached with it. “Need me the same way I need you. I would give my life for you. Live for me. Find a way to live for me. Love me that much.
If you let yourself believe in me, I’ll take care of us. I believe absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt, that you’ll take care of us just as well.
The bayou came out in her voice more than it ever had before, and it sounded like an invitation to spend the night floating down a lazy canal together under the starlit night.
Now there was Grace. An unexpected gift. She was far more than he’d ever fantasized about. She was courageous and beautiful. Intelligent and no pushover.
Claiming her as his. He was rough, demanding and possessive. He wanted her to feel his brand of love. Complete. Encompassing. Reverent. Carnal.
Stay with me, little one. I remained in this world because of you. You will have to be strong for both of us. Can you hear me, Raven? Do not leave me. I can make you happy. I know I can.
Breezy laughed and the sound went through him the way it often did, lighting his world. She sounded bright and happy and she shed that light on him. She took him right out of the violence, the blood and death and vile world he lived in to draw into the sunshine with her.
I’m not going to hurt you, Bree. I’d shoot myself in the heart before I’d do that again.
She was an intelligent woman and she wasn’t just going to hand herself over to him because she was tempted. He loved that about her because it meant when she did fully surrender, he’d earned it and he had a much better chance of keeping her when he had to tell her he was a shadow rider and what that meant for both of them.
She was purity. Goodness. Compassion. The other half of his soul. Light to his darkness. Everything that he was not.
He’d meant what he’d said when he’d told her he didn’t want to ever see her hurt or with tears in her eyes. He knew never was a long time, but he would still do his best to make that promise count.
I love that when I finally have something, it’s you. Your body. Your mind. Your heart. I’m going after that you know. Your heart. I want complete surrender from you. Nothing less will do.
They’d always kept eyes on one another. Always. It was Czar’s rule. Their rule. Their code. Their promise to one another. It was how they survived. But he hadn’t. He’d taken his eyes off Demyan and he’d died in the worst possible way.
I look at you and know what a miracle you are. The feel of your skin, soft and inviting, the way you move, like water flowing, the brush of your hair like silk, the feel of your body surrounding mine, completing me, giving me the strength I need to continue a task that seems so hopeless, but so necessary. I look at the way you are made, so beautiful, your body so perfect, made for mine.
She looked desperate. He felt that way. He wasn’t about to be separated from her. “No matter what, I’ll be with you,” he promised.
You make me feel alive, Grace. Every cell in my body wakes up around you. My heart. Who knew it was even possible?
We’re all going to die someday, Sasha. We can only live our lives the best way we can. I believe in family.
He was lonely. He wanted his own family. A wife. Children. Someone to come home to. Someone to care for, to take care of. He needed a purpose. His lifestyle had no balance. He needed someone to become his center, to anchor him.
A woman, young, full of life and laughter, a human with a psychic connection to him. A human filled with compassion, intellect, and strength. Death and damnation could wait another day while he satisfied his curiosity.
It was at home, when she was alone with herself, the way she’d been her entire life, that she was lost. She had no purpose. No focus. No center to balance her. Now, this man, Vittorio Ferraro, an amazing, sensual, intelligent man offered those things to her.