False Start (Red Zone Rivals, #5)

by Kandi Steiner

And more than any of that, I wanted to hold her. I wanted to pull her into me, brush her copper hair from her face and ask what happened to my girl — because she wasn’t here now. This was only a shell of the Madelyn that used to exist.

You could show up in a trash bag and they’d love you for it.” “You calling me trash, Robbins?” “If you’re trash, then I’m a dumpster diver.”

“The only reason I’m letting you live is because I care enough about that woman to do what she asks me to,” he said, and when his finger pointed right at me, I felt it like a bolt of lightning to the heart. “But slip up even one time,” he continued, shaking his head as a damn near evil smile spread on his stupidly handsome face. “And I will risk it all. Understand? I will risk it all.”

“Proud?” Kyle asked as he thumbed a card out of the small envelope he had in his hand. He still didn’t drop mine as he did. “Yeah,” I said, lowering my voice to a playful whisper. “When we were younger, you couldn’t kiss me without popping a boner. And look at you now.”

“Well, you must be a psychic, because this is exactly how I like it.” “Black?” “No.” I shook my head, taking the mug from her hands and setting it on the nightstand before I grabbed her and pulled her into my lap. “Delivered by you in a nightgown.”

“You don’t have to do this alone. Not anymore. Not ever again. You’re mine, Mads. You always have been. I lost you then, but I refuse to lose you now. Whatever you need, I’ll give it to you. Whatever we have to do, we’ll do it — together. No more letting anyone or anything get between us, you hear me?”

“My money is still on bestselling author.” I laughed at that, digging my toes into his ribs. “I’d have to finish a book first.” “You will,” he said without doubt, and then he lifted my ankle to his lips and kissed it. “And I’ll be first in line for a signed copy.”

This trip was for her. In fact, I was pretty sure that sometime in the last several months, I’d silently decided that everything in my life was for her.

“What are you going to do when I’m your wife?” I groaned, kissing her hard and rolling my erection into her. “Probably put another baby in you.”

There is nothing in this world I love to discover more than you. Every day I spend by your side, I peel back another layer. I find something new to love.