Page 36 of Steal Me

They...asked me...or they'd kill me.

And since only an idiot would think that the explosion was designed to save his wife's life—

"Pourquoi?" Why?

He hated how he ended up repeating himself, but shock had him incapable of saying anything more complex.

Why did she not betray him...like Annie had?

"Do you...do you rreally not know?" His wife...was actually teasing him even as she started to cry. "Or a-are you just playing dumb?"

How could this be true?

"You s-said you wanted a woman who was strong and courageous."

Mon Dieu, non.

"And t-that's why—"

Sylvain could no longer control himself, and a sob escaped her lips as he closed the distance between them, Sylvain falling on his back as he pulled his wife into his arms.

"I—"

He pulled her head down, his mouth cutting her off with a hard kiss. And when he released her, he made sure not to let her say the words—

"I love you, Liana."

Because he wanted to be the first one to say them.

Her eyes teared.

"Sylvain."

It was just his name she uttered.

But ah, the way she said it.

Sylvain heard a thousand promises embedded in his name, and something inside him broke and healed simultaneously...even as his fingers gripped her hair, and his body throbbed with a savage need to possess the most precious thing this world could ever offer him.

"Je t'aime."

He needed to say the words one more time before taking her mouth in another kiss, this one deeper and hungrier, and one that had her whimpering even as she kissed him back and pressed her body more closely to his.

His hands roamed her body even though he knew it was sheer insanity to touch her with both their lives on the line.

"Sylvain."

His name, this time, was a breathy little gasp, both a plea to stop andnotstop as he found the heat between her legs.

"S-Sylvain..."

She started rubbing herself against him, and just as he felt himself swell beneath his pants—

They heard someone curse from a distance, the sound yanking both of them back to reality, their passion cooling in an instant—

À quoi je pensais? What was I thinking?

"You make me act like a boy," Sylvain whispered into her ear, and her body rocked against his in silent, shaken laughter.

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