Page 8 of A Deal For a Kiss

There is only one door. And with a flick of my wrist, the magic of this realm takes the key away.

As she scrambles for an exit, on shaky limbs, I can only look at her.

Her full lips. Her doe eyes. The fear in her expression, but also a desire that’s so close to the surface I can’t ignore it.

I don’t care if this is meant to be a punishment or a test. I’m too consumed with Ivy’s closeness.

I stalk toward her, slowly, and she freezes, her gaze focuses on me. Her eyes widen. She understands that for now she’s my prey, and I’m going to have her.

I’m impatient for her. More impatient than Ivy can ever know. I want her curves under my hands. Her warmth pressed against me. I crave her and for her to remember. I wish to tilt her face to mine so I can capture her mouth. I even desire her defiance. That spark she has reminds me of everything we’ll have again.

Ivy backs up one more step and her back hits the windowsill. She grasps for it without turning, her hands finding the edge, and lets out a small sound at her discovery that there’s nowhere else to run.

The iron press around my heart is turned tighter. The fucking pain I feel staring at her with such fear in her eyes is unbearable. Nearly so. Not nearly what it was when they told me she would be lost to me forever.

She has to look, then, turning her head to see out large windows behind her. Ivy must know from the inside of the tower that this place is like a castle. Not unlike the old city I tore her from. Not all of the underworld is this. The view outside should only confirm it.

“There’s nowhere else,” I tell her with a touch of a sympathetic tone, in case she’s still thinking there’s a means of escape she hasn’t found yet. “You might find joy in the view I offer here.” She does not know, but a lifetime ago—a few of them—we lived in Edinburgh. They gifted me this home because of that. A blessing and a curse.

“Take me back,” she demands.

“There is no way to do that,” I tell her honestly. “Not until the gods allow. Here is where we will remain forevermore.”

Ivy jerks her head around, eyes blazing. “This is?—”

“This isn’t real,” she says, almost to herself. “None of this is real.”

“If it’s not real, then let me enjoy you,” I offer. Desperate to kiss her. Desperate for her to stop fighting and fearing me.

She pauses, her chest rising and falling as she calms right before me. Her eyes drift down my body and then back to my stare.Please. Let me help you remember.

“Enjoy?” She plays as if she doesn’t know what I’m suggesting.

“Touch you,” I say, taking a step forward. “Kiss you,” I add. My feet stay planted though, not wanting to push her too much too quickly. “If it’s not real, there should be no harm.”

Ivy only leans against the sill, her heart racing fast enough for me to hear it pound and see her pulse fluttering in her neck. I breathe in deep, getting as much of her scent into my lungs as I can. It’s been weeks of following her through that rainy city, with storms that constantly try to wash her away, and I won’t take this closeness for granted.

“I promise you’ll enjoy it, too.” She will. I wouldn’t do anything less for her. She doesn’t have to believe me now, but I’ll show her.

“Do I know you?” she finally asks in a murmur.

“Yes,” I answer, hope cracking that vice.

“What do you want with me?” she asks.

“To love you.”

“This isn’t real,” she whispers again. When she smiles, the muscles in her throat tighten and my gaze is drawn there, my desire to kiss her just behind the shell of her ear intensifies.She loves it when I do that.

I move across the floor to her, closing the distance between us. Ivy stiffens at the windowsill, but there is truly nowhere else to go—she can only lean as far as the glass, and she’s not evendoing that. I knew it. I knew part of her remembered me. Part of her craves my touch the way I have been craving hers. Her fast breaths tell me how much she’s wanted this and how she told herself she was afraid.

She can be afraid, if that’s how she feels, but she won’t be afraid for long. She’ll feel so much more than fear now that I have her with me.

So much more.

I lower my lips to her neck, bending slowly and deliberately, and at the last second, Ivy lifts her chin and gives me more access to her tender skin.

She gasps when my lips touch her neck, her heart beating hard just underneath her skin, and I groan into her heat when her back arches toward me.

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