Don't Forget Me Tomorrow (Time River, #2)

by A.L. Jackson

“Tell me I’m not too late. Tell me you still love me.” There was no stopping the plea. Pain and desperation twisted through her expression. “Do you think I could ever stop loving you?”

already rode in, Cookie, so you might as well let me.” I’d started calling her that years ago. Now there was no way I could stop.

“Guess I like you on your knees for me.” A snort left my nose. I’d been for years, and she didn’t have a clue.

“That’s where you have it wrong, Dakota. You can. I expect you to call me. Whatever you need. And there is no such thing as too much when it comes to you. Do you understand?” The words left me like a tumble of stones. A plea and a demand. Because I’d wanted to give her everything I had, but the only thing I had been able to do was give her the one gift that I could. She viewed it as a debt. Like something she needed to repay. She could never understand that what I’d given her was my heart.

I’d been in love with Ryder Nash since I was nineteen, probably earlier than that if I was being honest with myself. I was working on getting over that, though. Moving on. Because I cherished the friendship we had. This closeness that I didn’t share with anyone else. I couldn’t imagine there would ever be a day that a part of me wouldn’t hang onto the fantasies of him looking at me the way I looked at him. The part that would get tripped up when he got close to me, the way he just had.

keep chasing after joy, and don’t you dare ever stop.

“I’m not sure, Dakota, but if you are? I promise I will take care of you. Protect you.” “Why?” “Because protecting you is what I was created to do.”

Appreciation washed over me. Once I’d let the panic subside, I realized how lucky I was to have an incredible group of people surround me when I needed it. Ones who supported. Without question or reservation. People who truly cared and would drop everything and come running. Not everyone had that.

He was heat. Flames. A freaking fire that would consume me in a beat. A dark tower that loomed in the doorway.

It doesn’t matter what I’m doing. I would never forget you. Do you understand?” Meet me in the place of the forgotten.

Love is on the house. Free and forever.”

“We each have our own lives, Ryder.” I forced it out around the tumult. His teeth ground. “You are my life, Dakota.”

“You can do anything you want, Dakota.”

The truth that one day, she was going to find someone else. As she should. That didn’t mean it didn’t nearly spin me into violence.

“It’s not only me and my cousins who are singing those praises. It’s the whole damned town. And you earned that pride, Dakota Cooper. Don’t ever question it.”

“Do I think you’re not desirable, Dakota? You’re the most desirable woman I’ve ever met. And yeah, I think you’re worthy of love. Worthy of it more than anyone I know. Don’t ever mistake that.”

“You deserve everything. Had once thought I’d be the one to give it to you.”

“Did he kiss you?” Trembles rolled through her body, lifting like tiny spikes on her flesh. Her mouth parted, but she didn’t answer. What the hell I was doing, I didn’t know, but there was no stopping myself from leaning in, crossing a line as I murmured close to her ear, “Did he touch you?” Her head barely shook, the word a breath. “No.” “Did you want him to?” “No,” she whispered again, the word a short gasp. “Why not?” My nose brushed her jaw when I asked it. The air that had been crackling flamed. She met my gaze, and she lifted that chin. In it was both surrender and defiance. “Because the only person I want to touch me is you.”

A dark, towering storm. Chaos. Mayhem. Midnight. I felt like I was standing in it. Drenched in darkness and light and this simmering greed that I didn’t understand.

“I’ve wanted you to touch me since I understood what desire meant.” He’d become the meaning of it. The reason for it.

think I know what you need. I’m the one who knows you best, remember?” It almost sounded of a warning, and he pressed his mouth back to that sensitive spot and murmured, “Might make me a fucking bastard, but I want to be the one to give it to you. I don’t want to stop.”

“Your past doesn’t define you, Ryder. No, I don’t know the full circumstances, but I know you lost yourself after your mom died. I would never blame you or judge you for that.”

“I love you, Dakota. I’m gone for you. Since I was twenty-two fucking years old, I’ve been gone for you. Since you became the one thing in this world that could soothe the ache inside me. Since you became the reason to look beyond my circumstances. Since you reminded me of the good things this world might have to offer.”

“You saved me, Dakota. Saved me when I was lost. When I’d given up. And I keep trying to push you away because I know I don’t deserve you. But I can’t do that any longer. I can’t fucking deny that you are the one thing in this life that I’ve been living for. You are the light breaking the darkness inside me. And I’m begging you, please don’t walk away.”

“Because this is the way we’re supposed to be, Dakota. You were meant for me. You’re mine, Cookie, mine.”

will never let anything happen to you or Kayden, Dakota. I won’t. I will protect you with everything I have. Fight for you, but in that, I have to fight this. I have to finally put it behind me, and I don’t know what that looks like, but I promise you that everything I’m going to do is for you. For us. For this family. The family that should have been mine from the beginning.”

“You’re everything, Dakota Cooper. The most important thing in this world. Whatever happens, promise me that you won’t forget that.”

“Tiny Tornado. The perfect kind of havoc in my life. I’m going to do everything in my power to do right by you. By your mom. I love you more than should be possible. With the kind of love that doesn’t exist. Not until the two of you created it.”

“You can accept it, Dakota. Because I want to give you everything you deserve in this world. I want to watch you soar. Fly. Take hold of every dream you’ve ever wished. And I want to be worthy of watching you do it.” Her lips parted on a shaky gasp. “Ryder.” “I mean it, Dakota. Run after this dream. Because it’s good and right, and you’ll be offering this town something that is beautiful. Something that is so uniquely you it would be a fucking sin not to bring it to life.” In emphasis, he tightened his hold on her face. “Love is on the house.”

“I guess only you can decide that, but the one thing I do know is that we all have things in our lives that we regret. Things we would take back. And most of the time we get lucky enough that there is good that comes from it. A silver lining that we couldn’t see. We learn a lesson we needed. Find out what’s important. It teaches us how to walk better in the future.