He kissed her hard.

Not only because he wanted to … needed to. He kissed her to stop the flow of words that were bringing him to his knees. He couldn’t bare his soul to her because he didn’t know what he would reveal. Would he reveal his new resolve to keep her, and his yet-unidentified feelings for her? He wasn’t ready, and he had no idea if she was.

All he could show her was that he wanted her. Wanted her like he had never wanted another woman. He wanted her to know, so she could never doubt that she was special to him. Someone he cherished.

Seth lifted her off the ground and carried her to the bed. Before he lay down beside her, he stripped off the rest of her clothes and did the same with his. Finally, as he held her in his arms, skin to skin and limbs tangled, he had enough control to ask her.

“Aren’t you afraid of what you would find?” he asked, smoothing the back of his hand from the side of her breast to the curve of her hips. A shiver ran through her and he smiled.

“I am.” Her hand roamed his chest until it came to rest just above his heart. “But I want to see you. I want to make you mine even for a short while.”

“For a smart woman, you are astoundingly dense.” She drew back in surprise but he pulled her back into his arms. “Didn’t you know I was yours ever since you said, ‘You need to stop staring at my ass’?”

“You can’t be serious,” she whispered.

“I haven’t looked at or thought of another woman since then. You are all I see. Awake or dreaming.”

“Me, too. You’re all I see.”

Seth sucked in a sharp breath. “Say it again.”

“You’re all I see. You’re all I want.”

And that was all it took. He was falling down a cliff without a safety net. Falling for her. Deeper. Endlessly. Maybe he had a chance of keeping her. Forever. He gazed at Tara wordlessly. Shallow lines were forming between her brows. He probably looked a little frenzied.

“I’m gonna make you feel good, okay?” he growled.

“Okay.” Then a naughty smile lit up her face. “And I’m gonna rock your world.”

He laugh-groaned. She was so funny and so fucking sexy. “I’d like that very much.”

But when he touched her, it was with breath-catching tenderness and reverence. His Tara. She was too much. So special. So spectacular. And she responded in kind, smoothing her hand down his jaw. Kissing his cheeks, his eyes, behind his ears. They made love with such intimacy that Seth knew he would be changed irrevocably. He was scared, but he didn’t let his mind shy away once. Every second was precious, something to be shored up inside of him.

When they came back to the present, they were both shaking, and holding tightly onto each other. He never really knew what earth-shattering sex meant until now. He felt as though his entire life had crumbled down and rebuilt itself around him. And he looked down at the woman in his arms, knowing that he was forever hers.