Page 215 of The Owner's Temptation

He takes a step closer now. Hesitant. Like he’s approaching something holy.

“And I’m sorry. For all of it. For hurting you. For lying. For making you think, even for a second, that I didn’t want you.”

Finally, finally, he lifts a hand and touches the side of my face—so gently it undoes me.

“I fucking love you,” he breathes. “And it terrifies me. But I do. I love you more than I’ve ever let myself want anything before.”

He’s shaking now, just barely—but it’s there.

“You got under my skin so fast I didn’t know how to breathe without you. I still don’t.”

His forehead drops to mine, the touch of his skin like an anchor against the storm inside me.

“Come back to me, Sienna,” he whispers. “Even if I don’t know how to do this the right way. Even if all I know how to do is burn.”

For a moment, I can’t breathe.

I can’t think.

Because the man in front of me isn’t the Devil of the Masquerade. He’s not the cold king of The Black Ledger or the ruthless shadow that haunts the underworld.

He’sLucian.

And he’s mine.

I lift my hand to his jaw, running my thumb across the stubble there. He leans into it like it hurts not to.

“You didn’t destroy me,” I whisper. “You saved me.”

His eyes close, like the weight of those words is almost too much.

“You’re afraid of the fire,” I continue. “But I was already burning when I met you.”

My lips brush his, feather-light. A promise. A homecoming.

“I love you too.”

And when I say it, his mouth finds mine like we’ve both been holding our breath for years.

There’s nothing soft about this kiss—not at first. It’s all teeth and desperation and unsaid things poured into the space between us.

But then he gentles.

His hands come to my waist, to my hips, pulling me close like he needs to feel every inch of me to believe I’m still here. He kisses me like a man starving.

And I kiss him like he’s the only thing I’ve ever needed to survive.

I don’t know how long we stay like this—his arms around me, the world falling away.

The wind curls around us like it knows what we are. Something broken. Something rebuilt.

Lucian’s breath moves against my cheek, steady and warm. He doesn’t let go. Not even a little.

His hand lifts to cradle the back of my head, his lips brushing mine again—slower this time. Reverent. A kiss that doesn’t ask, or take, or claim.

It just… is.

I sigh into it, my fingers tangling in the collar of his shirt. “You don’t have to do it alone anymore.” I whisper.

---