Page 44 of Infernal

It seemed like a fair trade, being that I nearly sucked him dry of his.

“I don’t want your blood,” he said as he gently pushed my wrist down.

Um…what now?!

I blinked repeatedly as I tried to process his words. Nope. Couldn’t process.

“What do you mean you don’t want my blood?” I asked, trying not to sound offended, which I sort of was. I hadn’t expected to hear those words come out his mouth. Like ever. Perhaps he was making good on the promise he made earlier. Something about making me beg for it…?

“But there is something I want from you.” Reaching out to me, he wiped his blood from the corner of my lips. It was a simple gesture, but it made my stomach feel like butterflies were dancing through it.

“What do you want? My soul?” I asked playfully as I tried to lighten the mood, though it didn’t really work.

“Nothing like that, angel.” The corner of his lip pulled up into his cheek. “We both know you aren’t ready for that.”

I wasn’t even sure if he was joking or not.

“Then what do you want?” My throat felt like sandpaper as I swallowed thickly.

He met my eyes and smiled. “I want you to kiss me.”

16. THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER

Seconds ticked by, and all I could hear was the pounding drum of my own racing heart. Of all the things he could’ve asked me for, this was the one thing that threatened to break everything inside of me. At this point, it probably would have been easier to just hand over my soul to him. And it wasn’t like I hadn’t kissed Dominic before. I had; months ago when I first moved to Hollow Hills. It had been my first real kiss, and it had damn near stopped the world from spinning.

But that was a lifetime ago.

And I wasn’t that girl anymore.

“You know I can’t do that.” My voice was soft and to the point, yet it sang with regret for reasons I couldn’t explain.

“Can’t or won’t?” he asked, his eyes glittering as the moonlight slithered in from the window to reflect in them.

“Both.”

His frown deepened. “Because of him?”

“Yes,” I admitted freely. “I love him, Dominic. You know that.”

The bloodbond may have been messing with my mind and body, making it far too easy for me to do things I wouldn’t normally do. But it hadn’t replaced my love for Trace. He still had the starring role in my heart.

He bowed his head gracefully, accepting my claim. When his eyes met mine again, there was something vulnerable and fragile in them. Something that tugged at that secret part of me.

“And what of me, angel?” he asked as he pushed off the door and met me where I stood. He lowered his head again, his eyes landing on mine in the most intimate of ways. “Could you ever love me that way?”

My breathing ceased, as though all the air had been sucked out of the room.

Could I ever love Dominic?

I let the question simmer in my mind as my eyes roamed over him, considering it.

It was no secret that Dominic Huntington was gorgeous in that can’t-think-straight, sell-your-soul-for-a-kiss, knee-buckling sort of way, and I had been attracted to him since the moment I first laid eyes on him at All Saints. That part had been easy. Effortless. But then there was the other part of him. The important part. The parts which I loathed and desired all at once. From his cocky one-liners to the way I’d catch him watching me with adoration every once in a while.

He was an enigma who left me with just enough clues to keep me coming back for more. A man who challenged me, and infuriated me, and never once tried to fix me, because to him I wasn’t broken.

I was perfectly whole just the way I was.

“Yes, I could love you,” I said, my tenor barely above a whisper.

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