Page 88 of Sinful Sacrifice

Not from being tipsy, but from the reality that he’s falling as hard as I am.

29

I didn’t mean to say those words

Like the bullet of an enemy, they came out of nowhere.

Speaking of bullets, I’m on the edge of sweating more than when I’ve had the cold barrel of a gun shoved against my skull.

Death doesn’t scare me.

But feelings? Honesty? Goddamn love?

Those are the fucking boogeymen in my life.

I. Love. You.

And while I hadn’t expected to say them, no truer words have ever left my mouth.

Our breathing—hers short, mine long—is the only noise in the closet.

Pippa stares at me in shock, and her fingers slip from my blazer sleeve in what seems like slow motion.

The room is hot, like I suddenly replaced the closet with a sauna.

I sweep a hand over my face to collect myself before tearing my blazer off and dropping it on the floor.

No going back now.

Might as well continue showing her a side of myself no one sees.

No more hiding from her by slipping on my mask. I do it with enough people.

I cock my head to the side, taking in every inch of her face.

Her high cheekbones, how she sucks in her cheeks when breathing, the way her plump lips pucker as she thinks.

When I’m with her, it’s like I’m losing my sanity.

I’m wrapped up in her, forgetting where I am, who I am, how the fucking world works.

But in a good way.

Maybe it’s the opposite.

Maybe she’s leading the way for me, helping me find a speckle of sanity within myself.

I clear my throat, more words coming. “I’ve never said those words to a woman not in my family. But something I’ve learned these past few months is how fast you can lose someone.” I ball my hand into a tight fist and press it against my heart. “I bleed for you, Pippa. You’ve danced your way into this cold heart of mine, somehow slipping yourself through the shattered cracks.”

Her hand shakes as she reaches out and places it over my fist.

The warmth of her touch spills through my hand, my chest, straight to this organ I once referred to as useless.

Pippa accepts my past, my darkness, my work.

All of me.

I’ve never felt so cut the fuck open before, bleeding for someone.

---