Page 57 of Bind Me

“My family line. There’s a whole section downstairs on Norwegian family heritages.”

I narrow my gaze at him.

He grins again, yet there’s seriousness behind his eyes. “It’s the reason I’m in town, to discover who wrongfully got my grandfather committed to Tartarus all those years ago.”

I find myself gravitating toward him, my hand on his arm, feeling his muscles shift under my touch. Something in me wants to show him support. Kaden spent his life in prison for someone else’s doing… not to mention if his grandfather was wrongly accused, that would sting like hell.

“Really sorry your family suffered for so long. Did you find anything in the archives?”

The side of his mouth twitches like he’s unsure how to react to sympathy.

“Can’t undo the past, something I learned a long time ago. What happened is fucked, but now’s my chance to make up for it, especially making whatever son of a bitch is responsible pay for it. If they’re still alive, I need to know the truth to get closure.”

“I get that.” His hand is on mine, warmth stretching up my arm.

“And you?” he asks. “Are you going to tell me what you’re doing here?”

He’s fast to change topics off him, so I give him a quick rendition of my trip to the docks and what I’m searching for. I leave out the whole cabin thing as I’m not sure what that’s related to yet, and I don’t need him going more psycho-possessive over me than he already is.

“So, yep, I’ll be spending a bit more time here,” I prattle on. “Who knew libraries were such hotspots for discovering drama?”

His gaze never leaves mine. “I’ll help,” he vows, his hand skipping up my arms, over my shoulder, to the back of my head, bringing me closer to him.

I resist him, of course, digging my heels in, but he swivels us fast, my back instantly kissing the shelves of the books, and he’s in front of me, both hands now on the shelves on either side of my shoulders.

My breaths are on fire in my chest, our proximity always leaving me breathless.

“Look, you can’t help me if you’re going to trap me against the books. Back off, will you?”

“You’d be surprised how much this can help.” His eyes crinkle at the edges of his smile.

“Oh really?”

As he shifts closer, my hands shoot up to his chest to keep him away because I know what happens next. He gets too close, and my brain becomes lust-foggy, and before I know it, I’ll be with my pants down, my legs wrapped around him in the middle of the library. That’s the kind of control I lack.

He suddenly pulls back with a thick book of articles in his hand, plucked from the shelf behind me. He arches an eyebrow at me.

I glare at his games.

“This looks like a promising start,” he exclaims, flipping through the folder. “So, we’re looking for anything about sailors at sea attacked by sirens?”

I shrug. “Not too sure. Maybe, but it could be just missing boats, sailors found dead with no explanation. I’m just trying to find a pattern to what’s happening here with the sirens.” With my mom…

When he reaches over and moves a strand of hair caught in my eyelashes, the edge of his hand grazes my cheek. The touch is innocent, yet it sparks a fire inside me, igniting it, and an involuntary growl rolls in my chest.

Whoa, that’s new. My mermaid doesn’t growl, ever, so that’s an interesting development with our fated-mate connection.

He leans in closer. “Whenever I’m near you, I’m completely caught off guard, every damn inch of me needing us connected. I won’t lie. Skin to skin is preferred, to hear you purring in my ear, begging me to fuck you.”

“Gods, don’t say that stuff in public,” I murmur, my pussy quivering.

“It’s a very long way down in the ocean, and that’s how I feel with how fast I’m falling for you, Sasha. But I’m embracing it, letting the dark side of my obsession with you own me. You shouldn’t be afraid of yours.”

That sexy voice of his is gruff, yet leaves me swooning, and he knows the effect it has on me. All I smell is his earthy, manly scent, the furnace burning off his body embracing me—I want to smother myself in everything that’s him.

His gaze darkens, and I shouldn’t feel awful for craving such a handsome man. Those stormy eyes flick over my face, searching for a response, for something.

“It sounds like a really deep fall.” I realize that I’m gripping the shelves behind me as I steady myself from the explosion of images of us on his sacrificial table last night. I still feel that beautiful ache in the apex of my thighs from being fucked too hard, too damn hard, that I’m wet just thinking about him buried inside me.

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