Page 47 of Ink & Stardust

“You want me to promise that if I’m fucking you, I won’t be fucking anyone else?” His eyes darken and I swallow my words, nodding in lieu of speaking. “Done. So long as you understand that that’s all this will ever be.”

His words scrape across my skin like razor blades, opening fresh wounds in their wake.

I knew that’s all this would ever be to him, allIwould ever be, and yet it didn’t stop me from kissing him that day, and it certainly hasn’t stopped me from fantasizing about what comes next every day since. I couldn’t walk away now, even if I wanted to. I’m already in way too deep.

“Where have you been? I haven’t seen you in days,” I ask instead of commenting, afraid that if I did, my voice would betray me, and he’d end this before it even began.

How pathetic, to be so desperate for a man that you’ll settle for the scraps of bread he’ll throw your way instead of the five-course meal you deserve to be served.

“I had some personal matters to attend to.”

“So you weren’t avoiding me?”

A smile tips his mouth and he instantly closes the distance between us, his hand snaking around my back, pulling my body flush with his. My heart jackhammers...Yep, definitely in way too deep.

“Is that what you thought I was doing?” He leans in, brushing his lips over mine in a featherlike kiss.

“Yes,” I admit softly, letting my hands slide up around the back of his neck, reveling in the way his skin feels beneath my fingertips.

“I can assure you, I wasn’t.” He pulls back just enough to meet my gaze. “In fact, I’ve spent the last five days dreaming about this...” He slides his tongue across my lower lip, and I swear I feel the actioneverywhere. “Among other things.”

My lips part on instinct and he takes advantage, plunging his tongue into my mouth.

I kiss him back with just as much fervor, my hands finding the back of his head, my fingers tangling in the silky dark strands.

“Is your roommate home?” I murmur against his mouth.

My body feels like an active volcano, the heat churning inside of me, just waiting for the moment of eruption. One touch. One kiss. That’s all it takes and I’m like a freaking dog in heat. Which is a pretty accurate comparison, given that I’m tempted to start humping his leg in an effort to get even a little relief from the deep ache his touch evokes.

“I don’t have a roommate.” He swirls his tongue around mine in a way that feels like he’s been kissing me my whole life, like he’s had years to memorize every curve of my mouth and perfect exactly how to maneuver it with expert precision.

“Then why are we still standing here?” I don’t have it in me to be embarrassed by my brazenness. I want him and I won’t apologize for it.

After spending my entire life listening to what others thought was best for me, doing what others deemed acceptable, being silenced by my fear of judgment, I’m finally ready to break free. To do what I want for no other reason than I want to, consequences be damned.

“My car is just down the street,” he tells me, swooping me up so fast I don’t have time to object before he has me over his shoulder, carrying me toward his car like a sack of freaking potatoes.

“Um, I can walk, you know,” I tell him, oddly entertained by the whole thing, especially given that this angle gives me a great view of his exquisite back.

“Not fast enough, and if I don’t get you back to my place like right fucking now, I’m liable to strip you bare and fuck you on this poor sap’s front lawn.” He points to someone’s yard as we pass it.

“That might be okay.” I test him.

“Don’t tempt me, Lyric.” There’s so much promise in his voice that I quickly snap my mouth shut. “That’s what I thought.” He chuckles low and deep, his back vibrating against my chest.

I have only one real thought as we reach his car and he guides me inside... What the hell am I getting myself into? Kai has warned me more than once that he’d break me and yet here I am, willingly walking into the lion’s den like somehow I’m special and won’t get my insides torn out. But a lion is still a lion, nomatter how subdued they may seem. It would serve me well to remember that.

Chapter Eight

The drive to Kai’s is the longest ten minutes of my life. My body pings with anticipation while the nervous churn in my stomach makes me feel half sick.

He wasn’t lying when he told me his building was close to mine. Try the apartment complex about two blocks away. Which is insane considering the only time I’ve even seen him even close to my building is when he was coming out of the room across from mine.

I bury the thought, throwing so much inner dirt on top that it’s not likely to resurface anytime soon. The last thing I want to think about is Kai with other women, especially as he opens his door and ushers me inside, a sense of urgency to his movements, like he can’t get me in the room fast enough.

I barely have time to take in the small space, which I assume is only one bedroom, given that he said he doesn’t have a roommate. There’s a small galley-style kitchen as soon as we enter on the right and a living space directly in front of us.

That’s about the extent of my perusal before Kai spins me around, pinning me to the door we just entered through. I lift my face to look at him, my lips parting in a silent gasp at how incredibly sexy he looks in this moment.

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