Heart Recaptured

“You’re different for him, and I’m so fuckin’ happy about that.”

“You are?”

“Yeah, darlin’, I am. Ky has this ‘live life to the full’ attitude, but I knew he wasn’t always gonna stay that way. In outlaw life, without a good woman by your side, you become jaded, bitter, and in the end, fuckin’ miserable or dead. I never wanted that for my brother. But I worried he wasn’t ever gonna settle down.” Elysia freed my hand and commenced rocking once again. “This morning was the first morning I woke up and didn’t feel that immediate sense of dread wondering if he was okay.” She threw me a smile. “That’s because I know he now has you.”

Warmth spread through my body and I could feel my face blush. “And who do you have?” I tentatively asked.

Elysia lost her smile. “No one yet, and maybe no one for a while, but one day, I hope to have a man that loves me, protects me. Makes me feel safe.” As Elysia said each of those words, love, protect, and safe, Ky immediately came to mind.

I had found it with Ky. I had experienced what Elysia held as ideal.

“Until then, I got my ranch, a good vibrator and a lotta batteries,” she joked. I smiled, but had no idea what she was talking of. I did however, see the yearning for a love of her own in her soft eyes.

Footsteps suddenly pounded on the cabin floor, and within seconds, Ky burst through the door, shirtless, still only wearing his leathers.

His face was tight as he searched the porch, then his eyes relaxed when he spotted me. “Baby, there you are.” He breathed a sigh of relief. Just hearing that endearment spill from his lips made me feel so alive and my heart began to race.

“I came to watch the sunrise and hear the birds sing,” I said, and he shook his head, smirking, walking straight to me, scooping me up in his arms, pressed an owning kiss to my lips and sat me down on his lap. I stiffened in shock at the bold gesture, but Ky did not feel it or downright ignored it.

His hands immediately went into my hair and he pressed his lips to the side of my neck. I had to clench my thighs together at the explicit feelings his touch stirred in my core. Ky must have sensed my reaction, for his nostrils flared with need, and our eyes met, the same magnetic attraction evident between us.

A cough sounded, and we both met eyes with Elysia. “Nice to see such a scene, big brother, but remember I’m your sister and there is such a thing as too much!”

Ky mock saluted and my head fell to his chest. I could not help but remember the life Ky had lived, losing his mother, being brought up to believe that being loving toward a woman was wrong. Robbed of his childhood, his life was filled with violence and war. I realized, in these respects, we had not been so different after all. I felt even closer to him this morning, discovering aspects of his life, him holding me in his arms and never letting me go.

Without conscious thought, I reached down and took his hand in mine. I could feel the shock in Ky at my gesture, but he simply wrapped his fingers around mine.

I could get used to this, I thought. I could get very used to this.

A sense of limited time filled me with unease, and Prophet David’s teachings tried to break through. But I refused this day to submit to the part of me that held steadfastly to my faith.

I simply wanted to be held and cherished for the first time in my life.

“So what do you wanna do for the next couple of days?” Elysia asked.

Ky shrugged and looked down to me.

“Just be,” I said. “Just be.”

Ky smiled at me and winked and I could not help but smile back. I could not believe what I was feeling toward him. Warmth. There was an extreme feeling of warmth in my body.

Sia exhaled a long sigh beside us and rose from her seat. “I didn’t sleep a wink last night out in that barn, so I’m gonna hit the hay for a few hours.” Sia headed inside of the house, but laid a hand on Ky’s shoulder. “Take Lilah to the barn to see the colt. He so damn cute.”

Ky patted Sia’s hand, and his sister entered the house, the door shutting behind her.

“She likes you,” Ky said, and held me closer still.

“I like her,” I said and got to my feet. Turning to a shirtless Ky, I dipped my head to hide my blush at his muscled and tempting torso, and held out my hand. “Will you show me the horse?”

Ky got up and threaded his hands through mine, guiding me from the porch. Just as I hit the last step, Ky spun around, and pressed his mouth against mine.

I moaned against his mouth as he caught me by surprise and I gasped as he broke away too soon. Ky’s head tipped the side, his blue eyes on my lips and he ran his thumb over my mouth. “Perfect damn lips.”