Page 186 of Sinful Desires
I opened the door for her, waited until she was seated just right, then closed it and got behind the wheel.
“Where to, Miss Harper?”
She smiled, that slow, dangerous kind of smile that made my grip on the wheel tighten, then tapped an address on the screen.
Ten-minute ride. Not long. But long enough to fuck with my head.
She turned on the radio, let some soft jazz bleed through the speakers, and leaned into the seat, her eyes focused out the window. Saying nothing.
The sky was violet, the kind of color that turned her skin to silk. Her hand rested on her thigh, dangerously close to the edge of that coat.
I kept driving like I wasn’t seconds from yanking the wheel, pulling over, and dragging her onto my lap.
Minutes later, we hit the edge of the cliff.
The road turned rough, gravel crackling under the tires. Trees closed in on both sides, brushing the windows.
The headlights cut through the dark, catching nothing but more black ahead.
“Stop here,” she said.
I hit the brakes. The engine hummed, low and hungry.
“What your mom said stayed with me, Théo.”
I glanced over. “What, that I was the worst cook she ever met?”
She let out a quiet laugh, her fingers dragging slowly across my forearm, tracing the lines of my ink.
“No,” she said, voice lower now. “That the darkness brings out the stars.”
Her hand then rose to my cheek. She touched me like I might vanish.
“If I hadn’t been dragged through every fucking storm I thought would kill me?…?I never would’ve found you.”
Her thumb brushed my chin.
“I’d survive it all again if it meant ending up here. With you, soldier.”
My jaw clenched as her thumb caressed my lips.
“I don’t care what it took to bring you to me,” I said, my voice so low it barely passed through the air between us. “Pain, blood, fire. I’d take it all twice. I’d fucking beg for it if it meant ending up right next to you again.”
Her hands cupped my face as she brought her lips to mine, but I stopped her.
I needed her to hear it first.
“I’d let the world flay me open if it meant I got to keep your name in my mouth. You understand me? There’s no blade I wouldn’t kneel for, no hell I wouldn’t crawl through, no ocean I wouldn’t drown in if the price was you in my arms, Scarlett.”
I fucking meant it. The pain of all these years alone drowning in sorrow was worth it.
She was worth it.
Her lips crashed into mine, hot and wet, tongues dragging slowly and filthy until she pulled back just enough to breathe.
“Let me give you your surprise.”
She unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the door, glancing back over her shoulder.
