Her hand ran up and down my neck, in and out of my hair. “I love you, too, baby,” she whispered.

I clung to her for a long time, allowing the anger and hurt to seep out of me. Eventually, I pulled away from Evie and asked, “How did you know?”

She frowned. “How did I know what?”

“That I needed you. That it would be okay to ignore me and come to me even when I told you not to,” I said, not letting her eyes go, needing them to stay with me and silently tell me the secrets of her heart that her words couldn’t.

And they did. The love shone from them as she said, “I knew, because I know you would never hurt me, Kick. You’ve always made sure I was okay, made sure no one else was hurting me. I know deep in my bones that there will never come a day that you hurt me.”

I gently placed my hand against her cheek. “You never gave up on me, did you?” I whispered.

She shook her head. “No.”

I bent my face and kissed her.

Deep and searching.

I’d had her words and I’d had her eyes. Now I needed her body to tell me how much she loved me. When her hands slid over my back and her lips blessed mine with a kiss that reached right into my soul, I knew she was completely in.

I knew Evie would love me forever.

Just like I’d loved her forever.

Chapter Fifteen

Evie

“Shit,” I muttered as I turned the mower off and collapsed onto the newly mowed grass. I ran my forearm across my sweaty forehead, trying to stop the drops of sweat falling into my eyes.

Why did I have the bright idea to mow this afternoon?

On one of the hottest days of the year so far.

At least it had taken my mind off the huge blow-up between Kick and his mother a couple of days ago. I’d never seen him lose it like that at his family before, but he’d definitely needed to get it out because I’d noticed a change in him since. He didn’t seem as angry or hard as he had been for years.

I couldn’t deny I’d loved how he defended me, too. Veronica had been awful to me after my mother slept with her husband, and a lot of my problems in my last two years of school had been as a direct result of her vindictiveness. Kick had clearly recognised that and held onto his anger over it for all these years.

I sighed and lay back on the grass. Closing my eyes, I thought about where he and I were at now. We were together in a way we’d never been together. He’d opened himself up to me completely, and I felt safe in the haven our relationship had become.

A low whistle sounded from behind me, and I opened my eyes and sat up to find Kick walking towards me with a grin on his face. My body thrummed with desire. This man just had to catch my attention and I was gone. When he stepped into my view looking the way he did this afternoon, I knew it would be hard not to jump him and demand sex. Between the muscles his jeans and white t-shirt barely contained, his confident swagger, and the ruggedly handsome face I’d memorised deep in my heart, I didn’t have a hope in hell of not throwing myself at him. Oh, and add to all of that the beard he’d grown, and I was going down.

Happily.

“Why are you mowing?” he asked as he sat next to me, stretching his legs out in front of him and his arms out behind him, leaning back on his hands.

“Because, funnily enough, the grass grew,” I answered him with the smart mouth I knew he loved.

“Smartass,” he muttered, the grin not leaving his face. “Leave it for me in the future, okay?”

I raised my brows. “Is that an ‘okay’ type statement or a ‘we clear’ type statement?” I couldn’t resist, and waited to see what he’d do next. My body kinda hoped he’d attack it.

He didn’t disappoint, and a moment later, I was lying back on the grass with Kick on top of me. Bending his face close to mine, he growled, “It’s a ‘we clear’ statement, baby, but perhaps you need to be reminded who wears the pants in this relationship.”

Oh god, yes, I do.

I bit my lip and stared at him, willing him to keep going.

To show me who wore the pants.

His eyes searched mine, questioning. “Yeah?” he asked.

I decided to push him, just to make sure he pursued this. “I think we know who wears the pants when all is said and done,” I said in my sweetest voice. “You might think it’s you, but it’s not.”

Heat flashed in those beautiful green eyes of his and he reared up, ripping his shirt off. Next his hands went to my shorts, which he stripped off, along with my panties. He bent his face back to mine and claimed my lips in a rough kiss before saying, “I’m not seeing any pants on you, baby.”

Sitting back up to straddle me, he undid his jeans and pulled his cock out. He wrapped his hand around it and stroked it a couple of times, his gaze never leaving mine, except to take in my tongue licking my lips.

The fact we were in my backyard turned me on so damn much. And I knew it would be turning Kick on, too. He liked to fuck out in the open, and we’d had sex in a lot of strange places over the years.

“Babe, you with me?” he asked, snapping my attention back to what he was doing.

“Yeah, I’m waiting patiently for you to show me who the man is,” I said, goading him.

“Darlin’, this is about so much more than showing you who the man is, ‘cause I think we can both agree who the fuckin’ man is here.” His lips brushed over mine again, his teeth lightly biting them. With his gaze firmly fixed to mine, he reached a hand down to my pussy and pushed two fingers in. Rough and hard, causing my body to slide a little. “No, this is about showing you who owns your body.” He slid his fingers out and then pushed them both back in, hard again, and I moaned at the pleasure he caused.