Page 87 of Where Broken Wings Fly

“Don’t fucking lie to me, Willow.”

Her eyes fill with pain. “We talked.”

“What else?” I stroke over her cheek, coaxing her compliance. “Tell me the truth.”

“I was upset, and he tried to comfort me. Then, it’s so stupid… but we kissed.”

Unsurprised, I stroke the pad of my thumb beneath her eye, taking care to study every part of her. The sprinkling of dimples over her cheeks. The blueish veins of her eyelids. Thick lashes framing irises perfectly blending brown and green.

“You kissed him?”

“He kissed me, but I didn’t stop it.”

“And why did you kiss him back?”

She lets out a stunted breath. “To feel something.”

Letting my knuckles brush along her jawline next, I cup her cheek in my giant paw. Without a single breath between us, the air is laden with thick, palpable tension.

Yet she doesn’t look afraid, even as I explore every inch of her so freely. She won’t admit it, but she does trust me. That gives me a ridiculous amount of pleasure.

“Tell me about Zach.”

“Kill,” she whines. “You don’t have to do this.”

“Two of the most important people in my life have had their hands all over the third. Behind my back. If I want to know the details, I’ll fucking get them.”

Her teeth grind together. “Something did happen.”

“Have you slept together?”

“No,” she rushes out. “Not quite.”

“So, you like both of them.”

Willow hesitates before nodding shyly.

“What if I said that I’ve wanted to kiss you since the moment I laid eyes on you? That every single time we speak, all I can think about is dragging you to my bed and making you scream out my name for the whole valley to hear?”

I savour the way her breathing halts.

“What would you say then?” I challenge.

“Kill, trust me. You don’t want me. I’m broken.”

“Don’t say shit like that. You’re perfectly whole, even if you don’t see it.”

I’m too weak to stop the inevitable car crash ahead of us, letting my lips glide against her velvet cheek before meeting her earlobe. She shivers, but this time, it’s from pleasure.

“I’ve wanted to touch you so fucking badly for weeks now,” I whisper in her ear. “But once I do, I know that I won’t be able to stop. You should leave.”

“No,” she whispers.

“What the hell do you mean, no?”

“I’m not leaving, Kill.” Her hands wrap around my forearms. “Because no matter how every instinct is telling me to run far away from Briar Valley, I want to belong here.”

“You do?” I feel my eyebrows draw together.

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