Page 49 of My Masked Savior
“You do.” I kiss the inside of her wrist, feeling her pulse jump beneath my mouth. “Your pupils dilate, your breathing changes, you get wet.”
“Shut up.” But she’s smiling now, the tension broken.
I pull her flush against me, my hand sliding into her hair. When I kiss her, it’s nothing like the frantic kisses from earlier. This one’s slow and tender. My lips move against hers with deliberate care, savoring the taste of her, the soft sound she makes in the back of her throat.
Morgan melts into me, her body relaxing. Her fingers trace the line of my jaw as we kiss, unhurried and sweet. There’s no urgency, just this moment, just us.
When we finally break apart, she’s looking at me with something in her eyes that makes my chest constrict.
“What?” I ask.
“Nothing.” She settles back against my shoulder, her hand resting over my heart. “Just... thank you.”
“For what?”
“For trusting me with this. With all of it.”
I tighten my arms around her, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
“I’ll trust you with more than that, Morgan.” The words come out rougher than I intend, weighted with meaning I can’t quite articulate. “My heart, my mind, every dark corner of who I am—it’s yours.”
She lifts her head, those dark eyes searching mine.
“You’ve seen the worst parts of me. The things I’ve done, the man I really am when the mask comes off.” My thumb traces the curve of her jaw. “And you didn’t run. You stayed.”
“Damien—”
“Let me finish.” I need to say this before the vulnerability chokes me. “I’ve spent years watching people, studying them, learning what makes them break. But you? Christ, Morgan. You looked at the monster and called him beautiful.”
Her breath catches.
“So yeah, you get all of me. The good, the bad, the parts that should terrify you but don’t.” I brush my lips against her forehead. “And I swear to you—on everything I am—no one will ever hurt you again. Not Marco, not anyone. You’re mine to protect now.”
“Yours,” she whispers, and the way she says it sounds like a vow.
“Mine,” I confirm. “And I’m yours. Every broken piece, every scar, every kill I’ve made and will make. It all belongs to you.”
Morgan’s fingers curl against my chest, and when she speaks, her voice trembles. “You make it sound like poetry.”
“Maybe it is.” I tilt her chin up so I can see her properly. “The kind written in blood and bone instead of ink.”
She kisses me with such gentle tenderness that it feels like my chest cracks open. When she settles back against my shoulder, her breathing evens out within minutes, exhaustion claiming her.
I lie awake, staring at the ceiling as dawn light strengthens across the room.
This woman. This beautiful, damaged, perfect woman who watched me butcher her ex and got wet from it. Who trusts me with her safety, her body, her secrets.
I’m completely ruined for anyone else.
She’s carved herself into every part of me, branded herself on my soul until there’s no separating where I endand she begins. And the terrifying part? I don’t want to. Don’t want to imagine a version of myself that exists without her.
Morgan Cole has destroyed me more thoroughly than any enemy ever could.
And I’ve never been more grateful.
17
MORGAN
