Page 217 of Kiss the Villain

“Ah. So it’s that.”

“Yes, it’sthat! Are you not going to keep your promise?”

“Of course I will.”

“Then…you won’t die?”

“I won’t.”

His chest rises and falls faster, his lips parting just the slightest bit, the smallest opening that will allow me to slide my finger in?—

“Are you mine?” His voice wavers, a crack of vulnerability slipping through.

“Always.”

I reach for his hip—I can’t help it—and a rough breath spills out of me as his breathing stutters. Just the slightest bit, telling me how much he also missed my touch.

I sneak my fingers beneath the hem of his T-shirt, and a shock of electricity bursts between us. Gareth’s chin wobbles and he sinks his teeth into his lower lip until it’s discolored.

“Since you’re mine…” His fingers wrap around my throat, squeezing hard. “I’m going to fucking erase her from under your skin. Piece by piece, I’ll carve her out and sink myself so deep, there will be no one but me.”

His lips crash against mine, biting, splitting the skin. Blood coats his tongue as he thrusts it into my mouth, letting me taste his fury and pain.

His longing and despair.

His rage and anguish.

I take it all.

His anger. His torment. His insatiable hunger.

I let him consume me, devour me, and light me on fire.

I grab his face and kiss him deeper, pressing him harder against me, fusing him further into me until I can’t discern his groans from mine.

Until all I can do is feel alive.

For one last time.

37

GARETH

Ifree fall into the kiss, melting into his arms.

His touch.

His scent.

His breaths.

Everything.

I’m falling and rolling and unable to hit the ground.

My kiss is pain and frustration and bloodlust. It’s the only cocktail my fucked-up brain can conjure, and yet he’swelcomingit.

Grunting into it.

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