Page 48 of Moth to a Flame

“It’s my company.” The door clicks shut behind us. “I sabotaged your chances of finding a match. I brought you the eyeballs. Me. Do you like that? Like being mine?”

“Oh my God.”

I push her until her back hits the wall. Both my hands thread into her hair, and I kiss her, long and hard.

She doesn’t return the kiss.

Doesn’t open her mouth for me.

She doesn’t try to shoot me, either.

I urge her mouth open with my tongue, pushing past her sealed lips. Finally, fucking finally, they part for me. Her moan has me throbbing, and I pull her face closer to me by her hair. She groans a second later, then starts crying.

Her tears are silent, and she pushes my chest as she stirs beneath me.

As much as I love the way she fears me, this doesn’t feel like a game.

“Shh.” I cup her jaw, tilting her head up to lick the tears off her cheeks. “You’re safe. I’m not him. Let me take care of you.”

She keeps crying, and I keep spreading kisses along her cheeks. Her skin is warm beneath my lips as I brush them over her nose, her eyes, her forehead.

Regan clings to me like a lifeline, and God, fuck, I’m hanging by a thread over here myself.

Still, I hold back from ripping her clothes off and making her come until she can’t stop crying. Her tears won’t be those of agony then.

“I understand. You didn’t call the cops about the eyeballs, but yes, it must’ve been too much to take in by yourself.” My mouth brushes her ear. “Tell me to stop. Tell me to stop, and I”—I won’t stop, can’t stop—“I’ll go slower.”

“No.” She shudders, her hot breath trickling on my cheek. “I’m just scared. I’m…Are you going to kill me too?”

My head snaps up. The blue glow from some machine somewhere in the room offers enough light for me to make out her face. Her large, round eyes.

“I would never.” I lean into her. Our foreheads are pressed.

“You hear me?” A shudder rakes through me. I’m pulsing with conviction. “I would never kill you.”

“You killed them.” Her tears slow to a stop, her hands clutch my shirt harder. Wrangling the material. “For nothing, Landon. They died for nothing. I don’t want to die for nothing.”

“I’m not going to kill you, damn it,” I bite down her lip, pressing my thumb to the pulse point on her neck. I’ll keep her heart beating for-fucking-ever. “And nothing? It wasn’t nothing. Not for me.”

Is it too early to let her see my easily my jealousy is triggered? Yes. Yes, it is.

She’s staring at me, and holy shit, blush creeps up her cheeks.

When she twists her face to the side, I yank it back to mine.

“What is it?”

Her eyes search mine. Trust appears there first. Curiosity shines through next.

“It…Uh…It wasn’t nothing for me either.”

“Then?” If she doesn’t talk soon, I’m crawling into her head and dragging it out of her.

“Before I knew it was you, I thought it was…cool?” She sounds embarrassed and, fuck me, it’s adorable. “Like I was living in one of my horror movies. Or books.”

“Say the word, Regan.” I let out a harsh breath when her hands run up to my neck. When her teeth grind. She’s not upset about them. She’s scared of me, and she wants me. “Say the motherfucking word, and you’ll have eyeballs and any other body part at your doorstep every day for the rest of your life.”

“That’s the problem.” Her hands ball into fists, gripping my hair. “I figured whoever left them wouldn’t come near me. That I was safe. But you’re here. Right here.”

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