He strode through to the main bedroom. There were two, with one being filled with bunk beds, and one private room his father had always used. He knew he should wait until they were in the luxury of his own room, but he didn’t care. They’d had a week to do this in luxurious surroundings. Now, out in nature in the middle of a thunderstorm, seemed perfect.

“Is everything a battle to you?” she asked as he walked through the door. She’d turned on the small lantern, and it gave the room a rosy glow.

“Yes,” he admitted. “Everything lately has been. I’ve fought everyone lately. Hell, it wasn’t so long ago I fought a damn SUV. Don’t think I won’t fight for this. I want this more than I want my next breath. We don’t need to talk. We need to feel. I feel when I’m with you.”

She stared at him, the heat back in her gaze, and he knew he had her. “Kiss me again. I don’t have to think at all when you’re kissing me.”

That was how he should keep her then. If she thought too long, she could come up with a hundred ways she was better off without him. She would remember that his family was terrible and he wasn’t great at expressing himself and she could do better.

But he wasn’t letting her go this time. She’d slipped out of his trap because he’d had a conscience back then. Now the only thing that mattered was binding her to him.

He kissed her again, letting their mouths meld and mesh, sinking into the sensation of having her close.

He lowered her to the bed and pulled his shirt off, tossing it to the side. He kicked off his shoes.

She got to her knees and put her hands on his chest, her eyes looking up at him. “Do you truly want me, Rene? Tell me this isn’t some ploy to get me to stay around because I fit into your plans.”

“You are my plans,” he said. “And I wanted you back then. I wanted you so badly, it took everything I had to send you away. I can’t tell you I didn’t have a life in the years in between, but I haven’t dated anyone since I found out you were coming back.”

Her hands stopped their slow exploration. “That’s been three years.”

“Yes, it has, and there’s been no one.” He needed her to understand that even when they hadn’t been together, he’d been focused on her. “I’ll be honest. There haven’t been all that many women in my life. A few girlfriends here and there, but I think in the back of my mind I always knew I wanted you.”