Page 69 of His Bride

I tighten my grip on her cheeks. I need her to feel what I’m struggling to put into words, so I kiss her. I kiss her with a desperation that stems from my soul. A kiss that carries all the regret, the past mistakes, the things I should have said but never did because I need her to trust me.

I need to not lose her.

She breaks the kiss, takes my hands, and removes them from her cheeks. Her expression is loud and clear, hacking at my bones, sucking out the marrow. And she looks both stoic and like she wants to cry.

It breaks my heart.

I’ve lost.

“Caelian,” she murmurs, and I know she’s about to say something profoundly heartbreaking, “if you love me?—”

“I do. I do love you. New York?—”

“—then you’ll let me save my brother.”

“No.”

“I love you,” she whispers, and my insides get pulverized, “but you have to let me go.”

Chapter 18

GIANA

Last night was a disaster. I knew it would be. Yet I still went.

Why?

Because some deeper part of me wanted to see him—that part that won’t stop aching, that won’t stop wanting him no matter how toxic it is.

Cocaine, that’s what he is. He’s poison, yet the high he gives me, the rush…it’s indescribable. That’s what makes men like Caelian so dangerous. They weave a spell so potent, so powerful that it obliterates all reason.

But it felt so good. Too good.

I think he’s right. We are the Fred and Ginger of sex. We’re compatible, harmonically perfect in the most carnal ways. We move together, bodies instinctively knowing where to touch, how to caress, when to pause. It's like a dance, a primitive ballet wordlessly choreographed by desire.

But outside the bedroom—or restaurant…or forest—we're a hurricane and a volcano. Destructive, chaotic, destined for calamity.

I’m in the dining room, drafting an email to my attorney to have new divorce papers drawn up, when my phone vibrates with a text.

Same time, same place?

Leave me alone.

Bring the shiny new papers.

I’m not falling for that one again.

Because you’re too busy falling for me?

Stop.

If only you had said that last night. I was thinking…

Does it hurt?

Hilarious…

I was thinking we unlocked a new kink last night.

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