Page 153 of Sinful Desires
I grabbed his chin, yanked his face up, and licked his lips—slow, messy, claiming him the same way he’d claimed me. Then I kissed him, open and rough, teeth dragging his bottom lip.
He groaned into my mouth, voice breaking.
“Je t’aime, Scarlett.”
The words hung between us, thick and suffocating.
They lodged in my throat, heavy and wild, burning to get out from my lips, too, but fear sat like lead in my chest, caging them there.
I stared into his eyes, drowning in them, torn between wanting to scream it back and the terror of what it might mean if I did.
My gaze dropped, desperate for something else to anchor me.
That was when I saw it—the gold chain resting against his skin, glinting beneath the edge of his shirt.
I reached for it. Fingers brushed the damp golden metal, trailing lower, slipping under his sweat-soaked shirt.
Resting against the center of his chest, right over his heart, were two tiny gold stars.
I froze.
No air. No sound. Nothing but the blood rushing in my ears.
The necklace.Mynecklace.
The one my father had given me for my sixth birthday. The one I’d lost. The one I’d searched for everywhere: under beds, between floorboards, in old drawers I hadn’t opened in years.
The one that had vanished without a trace.
Théo had it.
He’d been wearing it.
All this time.
“Do you remember me now,mon étoile filante?”
Chapter
Thirty-Eight
“Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light; I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.”
?Sarah Williams
Scarlett
Four years ago
“You are the shame of this family,” my father said coldly. “I can’t believe you made such a spectacle of yourself.”
He said it like he meant it. Like he’d been waiting to say it for years.
Blood dripped from my nose onto the tile, but I didn’t move. The ringing in my ears was louder than him. Louder than everything. His shoes appeared in front of me. Polished leather, black as ink.
Always spotless, unlike me.
The sitting room smelled of old cigars and scotch. Everything was gold and marble and dark wood with heavy furniture, stiff curtains, and velvet chairs no one actually sat in.
