Page 157 of Barbi and the Villain

The layer of energy around my body grows in size, spiking every time my heart rate goes up.

“Fate… It means I never had a choice to begin with, did I? Even liking you… Is that something I did, or something I had to do?”

“Fate can only dictate so much,” he says. “It is a string of canonical events that are decided by the fate goddesses, but everything in the middle is yours.”

“How can that be if no matter what I did I ended up in the same spot?”

“You are thinking of fate in far too negative terms, Barbs. What about the positives? It brought you here. With me. Does that not count for anything?”

I peer up at him, my heart slamming against my chest in a mix of fear, frustration, and desire.

I look at him through the eyes of a woman in love, but one who is questioning whether that love is even hers.

“You are with me now, sweetheart. Mine. I, for one, thank the fates for that.” He smiles.

My eyes widen.

“Were you not cursing the fates for our bond until now? What brought this change?”

“You.” One word. One simple word that makes my soul sing. “Against myself and against my past, you wormed your way into my heart. And that is not the hand of fate. Fate only brought us together, but you made my heart beat again. You with your odd ways and quirky humor. You with your kindness when I least deserved it. You with your patience and forgiveness when I could not forgive myself. That is all you, Barbs.”

My lashes flutter in surprise at his words. He’s never spoken to me like this. The mark on my chest vibrates, but this time, it sends a signal to my volatile energy, making it flash between a light lavender color and a deep purple.

A blush creeps up my cheeks as I stare at him.

“Nykander…” I whisper his name, unable to utter anything else.

His lips curve up, his eyes crinkling around the corners. I’ve seen him smile before, but never with his full face like this. His energy shifts as well, the darkness of his shadows abating until it becomes a light gray.

His hands cup my cheeks and he leans forward. His breath fans across my lips. The proximity is maddening.

“There was truth in your words when we first met, Barbs,” he murmurs. My lips part and I inhale each word. “You are the light to my dark, dark soul.”

Slowly, he closes the distance between us. He gives me enough time to turn my face away should I want to. But how could I when I have been waiting for this moment forever?

His lips touch mine. They’re soft but firm. He glides his mouth over mine in a gentle seduction. Each press of his lips is more decadent than the first. Wrapping one arm around my waist, he pulls me close to his body. His heat permeates my body, and our energies merge into one. He parts his lips over mine, coaxing them open so he can taste me better.

A groan vibrates in his chest as he slides his tongue across the seam of my lips.

“Open up for me, Barbs,” he murmurs.

I trace the contours of his muscles as I make my way up his arms, gripping him tightly as I allow him access to my mouth.

His tongue slides inside, seeking my own and inviting it to a tantalizing dance that sends a current of electricity down my body and makes my toes curl. I move my hands up, twinning them around his nape. Threading my fingers through his thick hair, I let him deepen the kiss. Our mouths are fused to one another, his breath my breath.

The kiss starts gentle as he eases me into it, but as I urge him on, rubbing against him and opening my mouth wider for his possession, he takes what is freely given.

So lost I am in his embrace that I barely realize that our feet are no longer touching the ground. An otherworldly glow surrounds us as the kiss becomes more urgent. All my inhibitions melt away as I allow him to penetrate every crevice of my soul.

His touch ignites me as I never thought possible—and I have imagined this moment since the first time I saw him.

The heat becomes an incontrollable inferno that burns faster, harder. It opens an abyss of emotion in my heart—one that is pitiless and infinite.

“Barbs,” he groans my name against my lips.

We float outside space and time, driven by desire and an ineffable depth of feeling.

Our lips part for a moment, and he pulls at my dress to reveal my glowing mark. He does the same with his shirt, taking my hand and placing it on his naked skin to feel his pulsating mark.

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