Page 48 of Forever Touched

He reached into his pocket to hand me my keys, then disappeared into the pouring rain, leaving me to deal with the devastation he’d just unleashed.

15

EVERETT

The sounds she made while I pleasured her. The rapture on her face when she orgasmed.

It was all I could think about as the clock ticked ever closer to midnight.

I never should have kissed her. She wasn’t the only one forever ruined by what had happened between us this evening.

I was that much closer to destroying her world now.Bothour worlds.

Tick-tock. Tick-tock.

I couldn’t stand much more of this. She’d told me not to come back, but that was before I’d claimed her body with my mouth. Before I’d thrown everything out the window and given in to what I most desired.

She was all I could think about. The cloying scent of her soft warm skin. Her exotic taste on my eager tongue. I was entirely addicted to her, and like hell would I allow another male to indulge in what I’d just experienced.

Tick-tock. Tick-tock.

It was nearly midnight now. I’d almost left my mask behind tonight. Had almost shown my face and demanded they let me in. They couldn’t refuse the crown prince. I was tired of this deceptive dance. This sadistic game of cat and mouse.

They couldn’t have her. Not tonight. Nottomorrow. Not ever. She wasn’t theirs.

Everything had changed the moment I’d lowered my defenses and allowed myself to kiss her. She was in my head now. In my body. In parts of me I didn’t know existed.

As I’d walked away from her hours earlier, her taste still dancing on my tongue, a feeling had settled deeply into my core. A feeling that I couldn’t shake. That had only grown stronger the more I tried to resist it. It pounded through me now like a heartbeat, steady and undeniable.

There was nothing I could do about it. Nothing but heed its call. So I’d come back to the club. I’d hidden in the shadows once more, making sure she couldn’t see me as she danced for the crowd below her.

Tick-tock. Tick-tock.

The clock struck midnight, and the spotlight winked out.

As she vanished, I made my move.

16

ADALYN

I hadn’t secured any new clients tonight. Every time I’d tried, I froze, unable to do it.

He’d done something to me. That cruel prince truly had ruined me. I couldn’t focus properly. Even when I’d danced for the crowd, my movements had been stilted. Clumsy. I’d nearly lost my grip on the aerial hoop more than once, my concentration torn between dancing and looking for him.

He hadn’t come back, though. I’d told him not to, so I shouldn’t be surprised. Still, the empty feeling in my chest wouldn’t go away. Even now, as I readied for my first client of the evening, I couldn’t shake the feeling. It made me feel nauseous. Unsettled.Lost. And not the good kind.

Someone knocked on my suite door, and the feeling intensified, nearly swallowing me whole. I inhaled a few calming breaths and tried to settle my nerves before calling out, “Come in.”

My voice trembled. It hadn’t trembled like this inyears.

What was wrong with me?

My client was definitely going to notice if I didn’t pull myself together. He was one of my regulars and knew me quite well. In fact, he’d been my first. First client. First to steal my innocence. I’d trembled then. Trembled and cried. He’d been rough, taking sadistic pleasure in being the one to claim my virginity.

It had taken days for the aches and bruises to heal, but I wasstillrecovering from the emotional damage.

I barely flinched anymore, though. Barely showed my distaste. But I was off my game tonight, and with him, that was dangerous. Remembering how it felt to have Everett’s mouth and tongue on me, some of my trembling faded. Maybe if I just picturedhimtouching me and not the male who’d brutally destroyed a vital part of me, I could survive the next hour. And the following one. And the one after that.

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