Page 72 of Make Me Lie (Rich Demons of Darkwood 1)

I wanted all of her. I didn't want anyone else to have her. I wanted to be the one to make her breathless, make her moan, make her feel pleasure...and pain.

A blush crept up her chest, and somehow it was one of the sexiest things I'd ever seen. Only she could seduce me in an instant. I'd never tell her this, but I'd been caught by her spell the moment our eyes met, even all those years ago. The fall had been hard and fast. She blinked her eyes slowly, the same hunger that I was sure was featured in mine reflected in those violet eyes of hers.

It only hit me now that I'd been searching for her all this time, looking for those violet eyes in every face I passed.

She tilted her head, and the slow sinking of her lids to half-mast was enough to make me feel desperate. I took a step until I was right up against her, my nose pressed into her ear. I bit down softly and then whispered, “I need you."

She shivered, and that was it. I couldn't stop myself anymore. It had been torture to have something that I wanted more than anything at the tip of my fingers these past few weeks, and to not let myself have it. I'd always lived my life taking whatever I'd wanted. It was time to take what was mine.

I swept up her legs and she gasped. I half expected her to push me away, but instead she wrapped her arms around my neck, her fingers tugging at my shirt.

Good girl.

“Stellan.”

The whisper of my name from her lips hit me in the chest hard enough to take my breath away. The way she said it...I wanted to hear her say it that way forever. I moved towards the bed.

“Deli-Aurora, ” I said, choking on the sound of her old name. It was how I knew her. It was the name I'd been calling her in my head this whole time because it kept me angry. Her old name was thick and heavy in my throat, torturing me as it threatened to ruin everything.

Which was why she would be Aurora tonight. Somehow I was going to take all the good from the old her and tangle it with this beautiful, fierce creature currently in my arms.

But was she really that different now that I'd had hours to stare at her, even when she wasn't looking?

I sure couldn’t look away from her now. The light dusting of freckles on her nose was the same, even with this new face of hers. Her tilted head and narrowed eyes hinted at the trouble I was beginning to learn always followed closely behind her, the same as when we were young. Her obliviousness was still the same. Even with her father and the cloud of suspicion that followed her everywhere, every man wanted her. Even my brothers.

They all hadn’t realized yet that she was mine.

My hope for a second chance. A way to escape the pain of the past.

“Baby.” A hum resounded through her chest, sounding more like a purr. Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment.

“Is this real?” she blurted out as I set her down on the bed and leaned over her, brushing my nose down the smooth skin of her cheek, smiling when I felt her shiver from my touch. I wanted her to be affected. I wanted her to feel me imprinted beneath her skin.

"It's fucking real," I answered her, and she tentatively pulled her arms from around my neck, trailing them down my chest to the bottom of my shirt before pulling my shirt up.

Finishing what she started, I slipped the shirt up and off of me.

“This is your last chance to get away," I warned her as I slipped my hands into her hair, gently massaging her head as she moaned softly.”

She didn't answer me. Her eyes were closed and her breath was coming out in halted gasps.

"Sweet girl," I murmured, pulling her hair gently to get her attention. Her eyes opened and she stared at me as if in a daze. Her pupils were blown out and a smirk tugged on my lips, seeing how turned on she was already. I didn't know what I wanted to do first. I'd been jacking off since the day I'd seen her, imagining everything I wanted to do. The orgasms had been intense, laced with guilt for wanting someone that I was trying to hate so much.

It wouldn't be like that tonight. Tonight, I'd actually let myself get lost in her. I'd think about everything else in the morning.

For a second I got lost in the daydream, thinking about what it would have been like to have her with me all this time, to have her by my side with how fucking hard my life had gotten. Would she have been able to keep all my demons at bay? Would I have become a better man?

This new version of her was strong. When I'd first met her, all those years ago, she'd been like a shy, quiet colt, skittish with any sudden movement. She was laced with iron now. Yet even with that strength, there was a fragility woven throughout her that seemed to draw me like a moth to a flame.

When I'd seen her in the cafeteria that first day, I think my heart had started beating again. I just hadn't realized it. Parts of me had become alive, infused with purpose, even if the purpose had been to destroy her.

Since she'd come back, I was no longer just moving from one day to the next. I'd become starving...for her.

“Mine,” I blurted out, and her breath hitched again as she studied me.

"Please," was all she said in response, but it was enough. It was everything.

I squeezed my eyes shut against a sudden wave of emotion. I didn't want her to be able to look into my eyes and see...me.

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