I shook my head. “No, you didn’t hurt me. You never could.”

“I wish I could be sure of that. I came in here so fucking angry.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you where I saw the tattoo. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal.”

He sighed, the agitation within him visibly returning. “You have no idea.”

“Talk to me. Tell me what’s going on. Tell me what this Nico Kostas means to you.”

“He’s the fucking devil.”

I nearly jerked off the bed. “Why would you say that?”

“I can’t get into it right now.”

I sat up. “Talon, my mother is dating this person. If he’s the devil you say he is, I need to know. I need to keep him away from my mother.”

“I thought you didn’t care much about your mother.”

“She’s still my mother. She gave me life. Seeing her lying there, so helpless, I’ve kind of had a change of heart. I want to see her recover. And if she recovers, I don’t want her hanging around with someone who’s a bad person.”

Talon shook his head. “Blue eyes, you have no idea.”

“Then tell me. Please. Just be honest with me. I can take it. I promise you.”

“I wish I could, Jade. I’m just not ready yet. But please, keep your mother away from him.”

“So far I haven’t had to worry about it. After you and I showed up at the hospital the other night, he left. Like I told you, he said he was going to Des Moines, and I haven’t seen him since.”

Talon cleared his throat. “I’m not surprised.”

“Why?”

“I can’t get into it. But I will find him, Jade. I will find him. I promise you that.”

Chapter Fourteen

Talon

She didn’t push me any further to talk about Nico’s tattoo, and for that I was grateful. But still, a look graced her beautiful face—a look that said she wasn’t letting this go. I didn’t expect her to. I knew her that well at this point.

She sat up and let out a moan.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

She let out a chuckle. “Yeah, my ass is a little sore.”

“I’m sorry, blue eyes. You have to let me know if I get too rough. Maybe it’s time we talked about a safe word.”

“A safe word?”

“Yeah. It’s a tool dominants and submissives use. It’s a word that means ‘stop.’”

“Why not just use the word ‘stop?’”

I let out a laugh. “Because sometimes people like to act out fantasies of being assaulted or attacked, and yelling ‘stop’ is part of the fantasy.”

“I can assure you I don’t have any fantasies like that.”

“All right, then. We’ll use stop as your safe word.”

“Works for me.”

“So why didn’t you tell me to stop tonight?”

“Because.” She hedged. “Talon, I want to please you. I want to please you more than anything in the world. And clearly you needed this tonight. You needed to spank me for whatever reason. You were angry, and I wanted to help.”

“Hurting you is never what I require, blue eyes.”

“I know that. If it had gotten to the point where I absolutely hadn’t been able to take it, I would’ve told you to stop. But I can take a lot, Talon, and I want you to take what you need from me.”

Had there ever been a more wonderful woman in the world? A woman made just for me? For that’s what I believed Jade to be. I was determined to become worthy of her and her love. And of her trust.

“There’s something I want to tell you, blue eyes.”

She caressed my cheek. “What’s that?”

“I don’t want you to see this as a weakness.”

“Talon, you’re about the strongest person I know.”

“How can you say that? You’ve seen me crazy, angry, almost delusional.”

“And you come out of it every time.”

I paused a moment. Then, I heaved a sigh. “I’ve been seeing a therapist.”

She didn’t bat an eye. “Oh?”

“Yes. I have a lot of stuff I have to work out.”

“You mean from what happened overseas? Or is there more? There must be more.”

She knew me too well. Most people assumed I had post-traumatic stress disorder from my time overseas. Truthfully, my time overseas had been less horrific than the incident in my childhood. “Yes, some other things.”

“Can you tell me about it?”

“Not yet, blue eyes. But I will. I promise I will.”

God love her, she didn’t push. But she did continue speaking. “Can I tell everyone that I’m in a relationship with you now? I mean, that’s kind of where this whole thing started.”

Everything at me screamed to tell her no, that I wasn’t ready for that. But I had to trudge uphill. I had to step out of my comfort zone. This would be a good start.

“Yes, blue eyes. I would be proud and honored to have everyone know I’m in a relationship with you.”

She smiled a gorgeous smile and climbed on top of me, searing my lips with hers. We kissed hungrily until I began to harden underneath her again. She didn’t miss a beat. She sank her cunt down on my cock and rode me, slowly this time—slow, sweet love.

“I love you, Talon,” she said, playing with her nipples as she rode up and down on my cock. “I love you so much.”

“And I love you, Jade.” I poured every ounce of love from the depths of my soul into those words, and I hoped she felt it.

We climaxed together, moving in perfect harmony, in perfect synchrony, like two strings of a violin quivering with the same music.

When we both finished, completing each other, she rolled off me and curled into my arms.

“Talon?”

“Yeah?”

“I need to talk to you about something.”

“What’s that, blue eyes?”

She exhaled. “Colin.”

I stiffened. Agitation coursed through my veins. “After that beautiful lovemaking, you bring him up?”

“It’s nothing like that, I promise. It’s just that, his father has called me a couple times. It seems he’s disappeared.”