More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
My stomach twisted in a show of want. Crap. I knew better, I knew better. But attraction was something you couldn’t control. It was instant. Unstoppable. Awakened in a beat before you even knew what was happening.
It billowed through me then. The memory in the night. The feeling of not being alone when the torment came. Like the man could give me comfort in the storm that hit me night after night.
“I have you,” I reiterated, words coarse and raw. Finally, she opened those eyes, their depths a tormented sea that I recognized too clearly. Understanding burned between us.
“Sometimes the scariest journeys are the ones where the lost finally find the right path to lead them home.” My brow curled, and my head shook. He squeezed my hand tighter. “It’s okay to be afraid. The courageous always are. They just understand taking the chance is worth the fear and the risk.”
“Tell me somethin’ I don’t know.” She blinked up at me, and those tender fingertips found the thrumming at my chest. “That I like you…too much.” My hand covered hers, pressing it close to my chest. “Think I like you too much, too.” Her smile turned somber. “We’re a mess, Jud.” “Yeah, a beautiful fucking mess, and I wanna show you what that looks like to me.”
“No, Salem. Think that’s the problem. I see you in an entirely different way. In a way that fucks with my head. Because when I’m looking at you? I see beauty. I see light. I see a treasure and goodness and every fuckin’ thing that is right.”
“And I see a man who found me in a storm where I was lost. A man who took the time to rescue me. A man who’s a protector. A man who’s good and kind. A man who’s also broken. I see the pain, Jud. I see it. I feel it because it lives in me, too.”
“I will burn the world down for you.” Everything trembled. The heavens, the earth, and my heart.
There are moments in our lives that we know are going to change everything. That once we take one step deeper, there will be no turning back. We will be irrevocably changed. Permanently marked. A new tattoo that doesn’t just cover your skin, but the ink bleeds way down deep, deep enough to imprint your soul.
Fingertips found my face. “I am scared that I need you, Jud. That with you, for the first time in my life, I feel safe.” “I’ll kill anyone who even thinks about hurting you, Salem. I will.”
“Run to me,” I murmured again. “Jud.” My name was a whimper. Hope and fear and ecstasy. “You’re real, Salem. You aren’t vapor. You exist. You’re real and whole and mine. Exist with me.” She was in my arms before another denial could fall from her lips.
She whimpered, “More. I need you. I need you. I need it all.” “You have me, darlin’.” It was the goddamn truth. I was done for. Done for. This girl possession. A fantasy. A dream. I was straight-up spellbound.
pulled back to stare down at that stunning face. “Do you trust me?” She chewed at her bottom lip before she admitted, “I’m scared of how much I do.” “You think I’m not scared, too, Salem? That all of this isn’t fuckin’ with my mind? But that’s the thing about trust—it’s always a little scary to give. To rely on someone when we’ve only been relying on ourselves. And fuck yeah, baby, you are a fighter, a survivor. Fierce and determined. So goddamn beautiful you make my knees shake. But it doesn’t matter how strong we are, every one of us needs someone who is willing to fight for us, too.”
