Page 112 of Living Legend

“About?”

“I mentioned your reasoning for being a part of all this might have started at the beginning of your relationship with Lilith. The first time it appeared was during your start in Purgatory. That’s hardly a coincidence, Dani.”

I grazed my fingers over his gauze-covered wound. “Spiraling…”

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry.”

I snuggled up closer to him, wrapping my leg over his hip. “I forgive you.”

He rested his nose against mine. “You heard this mysterious, intoxicatingly warm voice while you were in bed with me?”

I nodded, rubbing my nose against his. “Don’t get cocky.”

He gave me a small smile. “This is the last time I’ll bring it up, but maybe you hear them for a reason?”

I considered this, pressing my lips together. I stuck my tongue out to wet them. “Possibly. In the beginning, it would come like a punch to my head, as if it was trying to break through a titanium wall, like it was just as confused and stuck as I was. Now, it’s like it’s taking a different approach, smoother. I almost want to invite it, but there’s just something holding me back.” I kissed him lightly. “It’s like it knows something I don’t.”

Nicholas kissed me back and then kissed my cheek, my jaw, then my lips again. “Okay, well, I’ll personally just spiral with this alone in my own head, but I don’t want to cause you to spiral, so how about we put this to bed for now?”

“I like putting things to bed,” I said in a low voice. That voice, that warmth; it was almost like a part of me I’d forgotten.

He rubbed my arms and wrapped his hands around my waist, feeling up my back and then down to grab my ass and pull me into him. “You are a special one, Dani. There’s something about you that I can’t put my finger on.” He was starting to sound like Natalia. She’d said that she didn’t think I was deserving of a demonic soul, even though I had one.

Nicholas believed my soul wasn’t in danger of disintegrating. What did they see that I didn’t?

“Is that a good or bad thing?”

“How about you ask me when all this shit is over?”

He rolled us over so that I was on my back, and he pressed into me. His cock was stiff and settled between my legs. I opened my legs wider, so he had more room to feel comfortable. His hair fell over his face in a boyish way that made him both incredibly sexy and still so young -- I almost felt like I was corrupting him. Both his hands braced on either side of my face, trapping me in. I felt extremely at ease here, with him.

“Dani, do one thing for me.”I arched one of my eyebrows in question.“Call me Nick, alright?”

I wrapped my arms around his neck, running my nails along his skin. “Why?”

He answered with a shrug. “Nicholas is so formal, and we haven’t been formal for a while now. I want you to call me Nick, just because I want you to.”

I looked at his face, at the sincerity there. “Can I still call you Nicholas sometimes?”

He chuckled. “Sure, but…” He dipped down and kissed my neck, licking at my skin. He brought his mouth up to my ear and his breath against my lobe had me arching up into him. “When I have you moaning my name, that’s all I want to hear.”

I felt nothing but molten, animalistic need. He captured my lips, and I eagerly kissed him back. We had a few more hours to do this, be this…. whateverthiswas. A few more hours with just the two of us. By the way he slid his hand down my body, he was thinking the exact same thing.

Chapter Seventeen

NICK

Ilet the bathroom door close behind me and walked over to the sink, placing my hands on the porcelain rim. The cold press of it caused a much-needed wave of relaxation through my overheated body. I looked at myself in the mirror and studied my reflection. Everything about me looked the same: same hair, same eyes, same scar underneath my eye from when Reese and I had gotten into a fight.

I tried to find anything that would make all the feelings in my stomach make sense. I looked up to my left, above the shower, and saw the rays of sunlight through the narrow window. It was already early morning, probably around eight, and I felt both alert and exhausted. I looked back at myself in the mirror and tried again.

Ah, there it was.

My hair looked like it had been tousled relentlessly, and not from a restless night of sleep. My lips looked a bit puffy, as if they never stopped kissing the softest lips they’d ever made contact with. My eyes traveled to my shirtless chest and noticed the bite marks along my collarbone, and a small purple mark that looked so much like a fucking hickey. Because itfuckingwas. I traveled down further to my abs and saw the remnants of scratch marks. The marks didn’t break skin, but they were red and raised. I touched my fingers to the gauze that adorned my side, noticing how the marks deliberately moved around it.

Last night had really happened. Last night that had not ended last night. It had continued into the morning and literally ended maybe an hour or two ago when she had finally,finallysettled into a dead sleep. Not that I had complained when every time we finished, no more than thirty minutes later, she would be completely ready for more. I probably should have called a time out, because fuck was I sore, but I found myself not wanting to say no to that face. I couldn’t say no to her slender neck, her sexy collarbones, her perfect fucking breasts and ass.

I pressed my tongue to my cheek when I thought back to how soreherbody must be, seeing as she had let me contort her into every position I could ever imagine. She did so with an eagerness in her eyes that had me impatient to be inside her. I pressed my fingertips to my lips, remembering how she tasted when I finally decided on what I wanted last night. Fuck, she had tasted so good, every bit as intoxicating as I knew she would. I could have happily had my face between her thighs for hours and hours, but I would do that at another time.

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