From Here to Eternity (Moonlit Ridge, #1)

by A.L. Jackson

“Why’s it I fuckin’ love that I marked you?”

“Promise you, these hands will never hurt you, Charleigh. They’ll only ever bring you pleasure.” His words came out in short, heated rasps, panted a hairsbreadth from my lips. “Protect you. Do you understand?”

“You don’t have to hide from me, Charleigh. I already see you.”

“Family’s just the people you love the most.” Nolan shrugged. “And I love you, so that’s gotta mean you’re my family, too.”

Couldn’t fuckin’ see through the need to bring blood. I moved behind her, my hands in fists as the words scraped from my mouth. “Who the fuck did this to you?” Because whoever they were? They were going to die.

He leaned in so his mouth was at my ear, and he rumbled in that low, vicious voice, “That’s because you belong to me.”

“You don’t have to run anymore, Charleigh. You can rest in me.”

And still I wavered, unsure. “Don’t you think we’re taking this a little fast?” His thumb brushed the angle of my cheek. “How could it be too fast if I’ve been waiting on you my entire life?”

Torment twisted his expression. “Because I love you. I’m so fucking in love with you. So caught up I can’t see a future where you don’t exist in it. I can’t imagine a day that I wake up without you in my arms. You fuckin’ struck me the first time I saw you, Charleigh. Pierced me all the way through. Stole some part of me when I inked myself on you. But you have all of me now. If you want it. If you’ll take it.”