Page 109 of Beautiful Beast

“Do you need help getting in?”

“I’m good. Thank you so much.”

“You’re very welcome.” They drive away as I head up to the gate. Jerry gasps when he sees me.

“Anya?” He quickly opens the gate and ushers me inside.

“Is Erik here?”

“He’s out looking for you. But I’ll call him.”

He’s out looking for me. Which means he survived Dante. Which means he came to save me.

A part of me feels numb as I head inside and fall onto the couch. Everyone from the party is gone. Blessedly, my father isn’t here, or I’d probably have an aneurysm.

I escape death by sheer luck. Aiden underestimated me. Sexism helped save me today, ironically.

The front door bursts open, and Erik comes running inside. He stops once he sees me, and I look back at him.

“You’re alive,” he says.

“You’re alive, too. You came for me?”

“I tried. Dante had you some place I didn’t know where. But I was looking. I was trying every avenue.”

“I thought you didn’t care about me.”

He scoffs softly. “You know that isn’t true anymore. Anya, I … I was presented with a decision. Kill Dante or give myself up to save you. I gave myself up. I’ve never made such a selfless action before.”

His words settle around my heart, and some of the ice surrounding it cracks. For the first time since marrying Erik, I’m truly happy to see him.

And I’m tired of fighting my growing feelings for him.

I stand up and run over to him, and he pulls me into his arms. And before I know it, we’re kissing. It’s so passionate and intense it almost scares me. My hands grip his arms, making him wince and pull back.

“Dante shot my arm.”

“But you’re ok.”

“I’m ok.” He gives me a curious look. “I think that’s the first time you’ve ever wondered if I was ok.”

“Things change.”

“They really do.”

He captures my lips again, and I’m careful not to grip his arm too tight as he backs me up against the couch. Our lips are like two starving people in the desert. We’re hungry for each other.

Erik has brought pleasure to my body in a way I’ve never experienced before, but my mind was always against it.

Now? My mind wants this. I want to be in his arms and feel that he’s real. He gave himself up to save me. No one has ever done that for me before.

I gasp when he grips my legs and picks me up, carrying up the stairs. We don’t stop kissing once. If we stop, then everything ends, and I’ll wake up from this dream I’m in. I can’t lose that.

I can’t lose him.

Erik sets me on our bed and stands over me. The lust in his eyes sends shivers straight to my core. My inner walls clench at the memory of the pleasure he’s shown me before.

Without a word, he sits me up and unzips the back of my dress. I let him take it off me until I’m in nothing but my bra and panties. Erik has seen me naked before. Hell, he’s had his mouth on my pussy. But at this moment, I feel truly vulnerable with him because the walls between us are starting to crumble.

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