Free Lisa Renee Jones by Hot Vampire Touch

can’t let you die,” she whispered.
    “Oh Cass, baby,” he said, sitting down next to her and pulling her into his lap. Her words touched Troy like few others had in all of his many years, perhaps even more than the confession of love he wanted from her, but knew he didn’t deserve. “I’m here now. That’s what counts.”
    “Now isn’t enough.” She maneuvered to straddle him, her hands going to his face. “I won’t let you die.” She pressed her lips to his. “I won’t.”
    “No,” he agreed. “Now isn’t enough but it’s all we have for certain.”
    “That’s acceptance,” she said. “That’s giving up and you aren’t a quitter or you wouldn’t still be here.”
    He twined his fingers into her hair and kissed her, tasting the pain, the desperation, the passion on her tongue. Desire flared inside him, hot and fiery. But it was her emotion, and all the things he’d left unspoken for far too long, that had Troy tearing his mouth from hers before he lost himself in how damn good it felt to hold her, to not feel guilt or fear for doing so. He didn’t want to lose her when he’d just truly found her. “If ever there was a reason for me to stay here and keep fighting, it’s you, Cass. I don’t want to leave you again. Not ever.”
    “Promise me you mean that. Promise me you aren’t just going to accept this as the end.”
    She made him want to fight. She made him want to believe he was strong enough to overcome the virus. She made him a man again, not some monster destined for destruction. And right then, holding her, he meant his vow as he spoke it. “I promise.” He dropped his forehead to hers. “For you, I promise. For you… ” Emotion tightened in his chest. “There is so much I need to say to you. And I swear, I say and do everything too late, and at all the wrong times, but this can’t wait. It has waited too long.” He leaned back to look at her. “I’ve been so unfair to you. I need you to know that you not only have my trust, you always had it. It was me I didn’t trust. I told myself I was afraid I’d be blind and allow others to be hurt, but the truth is that I was a coward, afraid of getting hurt myself.”
    “Sarah messed with your head and your emotions.” Her fingers splayed softly on his cheek. “You loved her and she betrayed you. I understand what that did to you.”
    He shook his head. “No. I didn’t love her and I’m not just saying that. I was infatuated with everything she represented. She came along at a time when I was feeling like a hundred years of fighting had made no difference in this world at all. She gave me the chance to feel like I was a part of uniting our races.” He brushed his lips over hers. “I never came close to feeling what I feel for you with her. You, Cassie Moore, I love. I’ve loved you for far too long to have never told you.”
    “I love you, too,” she whispered and pressed her lips to his again. He kissed her, a deep, passionate kiss, sweeter for his confession, with the relief of no longer denying what she was to him. Sweetness that quickly turned to torment, as the taste of her salty tears touched his lips. Cass was crying. She never cried. His gut clenched with the very real possibility, the deserving possibility, that he’d wronged her for too long, that he was too late to save what they might have been.   
    “What is it?” he asked, brushing away the dampness from her cheeks.
    She wrapped her arms around him and held him, her body melting into his, telling him silently that she sought solace in him, rather than seeking escape. “What is it, sweetheart?” he prodded gently, caressing her back, holding her, giving her the time to deal with whatever she was struggling with.
    “I just,” she eased back so that her cheek was pressed to his. “I’m afraid of losing you and… I’m afraid of losing Nico, too.”
    Yes, Troy thought. He was afraid of that, too, and it ate him alive to think of what it would do