Page 106 of Stolen Seconds

Instead of pushing me away, she held onto my biceps, nails digging into my skin as if she wanted to draw blood. “I hate you.” Her voice trembled as if she hadn’t meant it at all.

I peppered kisses along her jaw until I reached her ear, grazing my teeth along her skin. “How much?”

Irina belonged to me as much as I belonged to her. If not more.

I pulled her chin down with my free hand until she let go of her lip, blood coating the bruised flesh.

Her face flashed as I dragged my tongue across the crimson color, tasting her—hungryfor her.

She tasted like everything I’d ever need to survive.

“You try so hard to appear unaffected, but you forget that I know you better than I know myself.” Leveling my gaze at her, I stared into the depths of her soul. “Now, tell me how much.” I bit down on her cut lip causing her mouth to part in a silent cry before I soothed it with my tongue again. And because I was a glutton for her dominance, I said. “Please.”

“I hate you,” she repeated, voice thick and eyes glossed over in malice. “So much that some days it feels like I can’t breathe.”

The heated look she gave me thrummed beneath my skin.

My lips twitched in amusement before I angled herface to me. “If that were true then why did it sound like the sweetest confession?” I captured her lips and slipped my tongue inside her mouth, feeling her melt against me. She met each ravenous slash of my tongue with her own. The kiss was sloppy, filthy, and painful. Exactly how I fucking wanted it.

I’d never get enough of her.

After a moment, she pushed against my chest until I was forced to pull back. She shot a glare my way. “Are you enjoying this?”

“Not as much as you are,” I said, turning her around to face the mirror.

She instantly averted her gaze. “Arrogant much?”

I grinned, pressing her back to my chest. “Only because you like it so much.”

Irina was silent and I knew it had everything to do with the position I’d put her in. “Look in the mirror, Irina,” I whispered in her ear. “Look at how beautiful you are.”

I knew she hadn’t seen herself since the accident and it killed me inside to see her avoid her reflection as if she wasn’t pure perfection.

Maybe I was an asshole for taking advantage of this moment, but I needed her to understand that she wasn’t alone. Whether it was near or from afar, I’d be her shadow.

She shook her head, resting it against my chest as if she was passing on the weight of her pain to me.

“Trust me,” I said to her.

Her breathing quickened before she slowly peered straight at the mirror.

“I want you to remember this moment every time you see yourself.” I locked eyes with her. “That I’d willinglycarry your pain and if that was all you ever gave me, I wouldn’t hesitate to take it.”

She reached back until she grasped onto my neck, her tear-streaked eyes roaming over her body. “Luca…”

“I know, sweetheart.” I pressed a kiss to the top of her head, understanding that this was difficult for her. “You’re ethereal.”

My heart thrashed against my ribcage as she turned in my arms and stared up at me with vulnerability swimming in her blue eyes. “Thank you for this.” She lifted her hand, tracing the angle of my jaw with a softness that would’ve brought any man to their knees. A crease formed between her brows as she ran her hand through my buzzed hair. “And this.”

I caught her wrist, bringing it to my lips. “I would do anything for you,piccola ribelle.”

Her face conveyed an internal war she was having with herself, and I had no idea what thoughts plagued her mind, but I’d wrench it out of her soon.

I’d taken her to bed shortly after we’d showered.

With her back to my chest, I wrapped my arm around her waist and rested my face into the crook of her neck.

I might’ve used my body wash on her, wanting my scent to linger against her skin—even though I’d stocked the bathroom with her addicting amber scent.

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