Page 207 of Deviant

“Hmm. It feels like a lifetime ago to me.”

“Are you saying that a day with me feels like an eternity?” I goad while fiddling with his hair at his nape.

“If only I were so lucky. Spending eternity with you sounds like heaven to me now.”

I melt into his embrace and place my head on his chest.

“Don’t talk like that. It frightens me.”

“It frightens me too,” he confesses, pressing a kiss to the top of my head as his arms tighten around me.

We stand like this, wrapped in each other for a moment, until Elias gently pulls away and tips my chin up, allowing him to gaze into my eyes.

“Get dressed, Roe. I have a surprise for you.”

“A surprise? For me?”

He nods.

“We still have five more hours before midnight, and I intend to savor every second of it with you.”

He then leans down and presses a sweet kiss to my lips, but when I try to deepen it, he pulls away yet again.

“None of that, Roe. We’ll have plenty of time for that after we survive the hunt,” he says before kissing the tip of my nose and walking to the bathroom to take his shower.

My brows furrow slightly since the probabilities of that happening aren’t exactly in our favor. Still, I do as he says, knowing that it’s Elias’s way of encouraging me not to give up hope.

He wants me to fight for my survival, and for him, I will.

Though I can’t choose the dress I will wear, I can choose my shoes. I pick up the heels Five placed by the bed and chuck them away. If one thing good came out of watching my mother’s highlights reel, is that I know I’ll be doing a lot of running tonight. And I wouldn’t get far on those killer high heels.

By the time Elias steps out of the bathroom, I’m all dressed up and ready to go.

With a towel wrapped around his waist, Elias leans against the door rail and takes every inch of me in.

My heart begins to flutter in my chest when he wipes his lower lip with his thumb with an intense look in his eyes.

“I’m starting to regret the promise I made myself,” he grunts.

“And what promise was that?”

“That I wouldn’t touch you until we got out of this alive.”

I tilt my head to the side, my own hungry gaze lingering on his hard abs and chiseled frame.

“Have you ever broken a promise?”

“Never.”

“Is there any way I could persuade you to start now?” I bite my lip.

“Hmm,” he growls. “I think you definitely could.”

But when I begin to approach him, he holds out his hand, urging me to stop.

“Though tempting, we’ll have to put a pin on that for later,” he says, intent on delaying his and my gratification,

To say I’m a little frustrated is an understatement.

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