Page 52 of The High Priestess

Right now, she’s fucking breathtaking, and I’m unable to tear my eyes away from her as my phone continues to vibrate with the replies coming in.

I drink in the sight of her high cheekbones, her full lips, and slender neck. My eyes move lower to the sexy as fuck cleavage and the curves of her breasts.

She has hips I want to hold onto while she rides me.

My teeth scrape over my bottom lip as my gaze stops on her ass.

Yeah, I’d pay millions to…

My thoughts come to a screeching halt when I realize that I’m busy fucking drooling over Cassia.

Jesus fucking Christ.

Lifting my right leg, I rest my ankle on my left thigh in an attempt to hide my hard-on should Cassia look at me.

She gasps, and her features tighten with sorrow. “I forgot Eleni’s birthday.” Turning her head, she glances at me. “It was last Tuesday. We would’ve had a party on Friday.” Her eyes widen. “Jesus. I didn’t send out cancellations. What if the guests didn’t know about the attack? What if–”

“Cassia, you were in a fucking coma last week,” I remind her.

She shakes her head again, and it has me standing up and closing the distance between us while saying, “You have bigger things to worry about than a missed birthday party.”

Her eyebrows draw together, and she looks so fucking vulnerable as she says, “Yes, but it’s easier to send out apologies than to start a war with the bastard who betrayed us.” Her breathing speeds up and tears well in her eyes. “I don’t know what to do! How…How…”

Grabbing hold of her, I yank her against my chest and wrap my arms tightly around her. With my mouth near her ear, I say, “You’re going to check on the survivors in Chile. The army you’ve hired will meet you there. We’ll form a plan and go to Athens to take back what’s yours. That’s what you have to do. Got it?”

She nods, and as I start to pull back, her arms quickly wrap around my waist, and she clings to me. Her voice is filled withdesperation as she admits, “I don’t know what I’d do without you, Lincoln.”

That’s all it takes.

I swear my heart swells to twice its normal size, and it fills with an insane need to protect her and the urge to possess her. It becomes pure fucking obsession.

I suck in a sharp breath as the mustard seed of affection breaks through the crack in my soul, the first living thing since everything in me died with Ronnie.

My arms tighten even more around Cassia, and I practically squash her to me as I growl, “You’ll never have to find out. I’m with you until the end.”

She turns her head and rests her cheek against my chest. “This war could take months or even years. That’s a long time to commit to.”

“I’m with you until I die,” I spell it out to her.

Her head snaps back, and she looks up at me with parted lips. “Until you die?”

“Yes, because there’s no way you’ll die as long as I’m alive.”

I promised myself I’d never care about anything again, but here I am, falling hard and fast.

Cassia’s eyebrows draw together, and tears spill from her eyes as she admits, “Besides Aunt Marina, you’re the only person I can trust.” She sucks in a shuddering breath as she gives me a pleading look. “Don’t ever betray me.”

“Never,” I promise.

“Thank you,” she gasps before pressing her face against my chest again. “I don’t know what made you decide to protect me, but thank you.”

I didn’t have much of a choice in the matter.

When she was lying on the hot concrete, bleeding out and begging me to save her sister’s life, something just clicked into place, tying us together.

Every time she moves away from me, I can feel the bond between us pulling, dragging me behind her.

Yeah, I had no choice.

---