He grazed her earlobe with his teeth. “It’s about time.”

The normally quiet hallway of Jack’s building held a dozen police officers and medical personnel when they arrived. Several curious glances were thrown their way, but Daniel and Story couldn’t get inside the apartment fast enough. As soon as the door closed, she pushed Daniel against it, desperation and leftover fear mixing together until her sole focus became Daniel. Her need for him.

His fevered eyes watched her make quick work of the buttons on his shirt before ripping it off over his shoulders. Beneath her greedy hands, his chest and stomach muscles dipped and swelled with his rapid breaths. “God yes, baby. Take what’s yours.”

Story’s mouth sought his. Tongues met, testing, before their lips slanted over each other in a kiss that shook her soul.

With a moan, Daniel pulled away just slightly. His eyes, dark and heavy with arousal, searched her face. “Tell me you’re really okay first. Tell me you aren’t hurt anywhere.”

“I’m okay,” she assured him in a rush. “I just want you so bad.”

Before the words left her mouth entirely, his hands dug into her hair and he spoke against her forehead. “Christ, I almost lost you today. Never again.”

“Never again,” Story repeated, her heart lodged in her throat. “Please, Daniel.”

Daniel groaned, his hands dropping to the hem of her dress. “Just tell me how you want it, gorgeous.”

Story leaned forward and nipped his chest with her teeth, loving the way his muscles jumped in response. She looked up and met his eyes. “Fast. Hard.”

He whirled her around until they’d exchanged positions, her back to the door. His hands moved quickly beneath her dress, yanking the panties down her legs, then sinking two fingers deep into her heat, pushing, flexing. She cried out at the desperately needed pressure, but he removed them just as quickly to draw down the zipper of his pants. As his erection sprang from the opening, she bit her lip in anticipation.

Strong hands clenched into fists at his sides, his eyes swept her body hungrily. “Baby, I’m feeling a little crazy right now. If I’m too rough, promise me you’ll say something.”

Heart swelling with love, Story wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed the underside of his jaw. “I promise, I promise.”

In one lithe movement, Daniel palmed her ass and lifted her up, allowing her to wrap her legs around his waist. As he strode toward the bedroom with Story wrapped around him, her lips traveled the length of his neck, urging him to hurry. To get her into bed and slake her urgent need. If she didn’t feel Daniel moving inside her soon, she would scream. She knew the same urgency existed in him, could feel his demanding length slide against her with each step he took, creating an incredible friction.

Halfway to the bedroom, he froze. It took Story a moment to realize they’d stopped moving, but she eventually tore her mouth away from his neck. His heated brown eyes were fixed on something in the living room. She followed his gaze and saw what had caught his attention.

Her packed suitcases, still side by side in front of the couch.

Story opened her mouth to explain, but Daniel angrily cut her off. “All right, that’s it.” Once again, he marched toward the bedroom, his stride considerably more determined than before. No sooner had they crossed the threshold than he tossed her onto the bed, where she bounced once into the air. Hurriedly, he stripped off his pants and kicked them aside before crawling toward her on the bed. Stalking her. The look on his face could only be described as a snarl. “I’ve been extremely patient, Story. I gave you five long, frustrating days to think. Then this morning, I came face-to-face with the punk you were going to marry. I listened to him declare his love for you and then watched you leave with him. Do you have any idea what that was like? And then you have the nerve, the nerve, to get taken hostage at gunpoint. As if that wasn’t bad enough, you hung up on me and put your life at risk.”

On her elbows, she edged backward toward the headboard. “Daniel—”

“No, no, let me finish.” His hand closed around her ankle and dragged her beneath his naked body. “You said you loved me. No one has ever said that to me before and it meant something. So if you think I’m going to let you get on a goddamn plane and fly out of my life, you’ve got another think coming.” One strong hand grasped her knee and curled it around his waist. When he ground his erection into her damp center, her head fell back onto the mattress with a whimper. “I will follow you, do you understand me? You don’t get to swoop in, make me fall in love with you, and bail. That’s not how this is going to work.” Daniel rotated his hips once, twice. “Can you live without this? Because I can’t. I won’t.”

Story gasped as he thrust into her, hard. “Wait, listen. You—”

Placing his weight on his forearms, he stilled completely and leaned down to speak urgently against her lips. “Don’t send me back out into the darkness, sunshine. Please.”

His fervent plea broke through the staggering need rocketing through her. “I have to go back to California to get the rest of my things,” she managed.

“Not going to happen.” Daniel drove himself deeper, but then his intense eyes shot to hers. “Wait. What?”

With her thighs starting to shake around his hips, she released an unsteady laugh. “God, you picked a really inconvenient time to talk about this.”

“Answer me,” he demanded, ending on a groan when she squeezed him with the muscles inside her, enticing him to move.

“My bags are packed because I’m moving in with Hayden. I’m staying. In New York.” She tangled her fingers in his hair and nipped at his lips with her teeth. “Although I have a feeling I’ll be spending a lot of nights at your place.”

Daniel’s brown eyes scanned her face. He didn’t speak for a moment. “You’re damn right you will,” he said, words thick with emotion. “I’m going to make you so happy, baby. I promise.”

She blinked away the tears blurring her vision and smiled up at him. “You’ve got sixty seconds to prove you’re not just a bunch of talk.”

Daniel threw back his head and laughed. “You’re on.”