Page 56 of The Masks We Break

FUCK.

I clench the glass in my hand, the temptation to throw it against the wall so strong that I actually lift it, but a black glimmer catches my eye.

As if a shot of oxytocin was injected straight into my veins, my pulse calms—the swell of anger ebbing into the darkest parts.

Remy stands near a long hallway that leads to an observatory. Her black hair, a striking difference against her pale amber skin. Those troublemaking hazel eyes connect with mine across the vast sea of people.

The black dress painting her body stirs my dick to life and soon rational thought is gone.

I need to be focusing on how to fix what my father just did. What I allowed to happen. I should be getting my shit together and not letting myself fall into another distraction, only worsening my situation, or hindering my plan altogether.

But my logical mind isn’t working, and instead, my feet are driven by something else entirely. A whisper in my ear that’s telling me nothing can be solved tonight. That I need to find a temporary reprieve to gain back control.

That once I purge her from my system properly, I can focus.

But I don’twantto do that.

I stop less than a foot away, reveling at how her breath picks up pace from our proximity.

Her face blooms a soft pink. “Hey, you.”

A smile involuntarily tugs my mouth up, and I let my thumb graze across her lip, freeing it from her teeth.

“Come with me, puppet,” I whisper, tucking a stray hair behind her ear.

She shivers against my touch, her eyes closing slightly before she nods, threading her hand into mine.

My pulse jumps. Her hand is so small, soft, and I want to ignore how good it feels, hownatural, but I can’t. The sensation from our connection winds up my fingers, tangling with the nerves so they forever remember this.

I glance down and find her hooded gaze under a fresh blush running across her nose.

Tonight, I decide to forget, even just for a moment, that this is going to go up in flames.

The moment Blaze’s eyes landed on me, nothing else mattered. The earlier irritation, null and void, a tiny echo in comparison to my blood rushing through my body under his gaze.

Those dang eyes. I’d follow them to the end of the world if he asked.

Ugh. No.

I can literally see myself falling back into the same crack as before. Stuck in everything Blaze, only to have my entire leg scraped to crap when I finally pulled it out—or pushed if I’m being honest.

But this time is different.

Oh my goodness. How many times have I read that line in a romance novel and wanted to hurl it across the room? Watching helplessly as the darn heroine walked right back into shark-infested waters when there are signs posted all around her.

But now that I am living in her shoes, I see how easy it is to do. How you know that something reallyisdifferent. You can just feel it in every fiber of your being. And that’s exactly why I’m following Blaze into the observatory.

He’s the same man. Honest, guarded. Butsomethinghas changed, and I’ll walk into his ocean to figure it out.

Blaze pushes the tall glass door, holding it open for me to pass.

Inside, my heart swells as I walk toward the massive telescope in the center of the room. The observatory is open, the vast sky above visible on one of our clear nights. It’s been too long since I’ve laid in bed and whispered to the sky, hoping for a miracle to come sweep me away from my misery.

I toss my purse down on the wooden table next to the scope and run my hand along the focus knob. If I don’t look at him, I know I can say it.

“You remind me of the moon.”

Ugh.

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