Page 96 of Sweetheart: Part One

The tone shifted, almost jarringly so. It didn’t have any right to, not after what had just happened, and yet… So gently, her palms drifted up to my cheeks, chocolate eyes fixed on mine, her breathing picking up.

This was not the right time. I couldn’t… not after—

She shifted closer and my fingers drifted to her cheeks before I could stop myself.

Could I be reading this wrong?

“You have monsters, Drake, that doesn’t mean you are one.”The echo of those words still shook me. How could she still want to be near me after what I’d just done? Not just because I’d frightened her, but because she must know what those monsters were. Foul and sickening and dripping in shame that had clogged up my heart for years.

Yet, I felt like she could see me, and she was still here, her touch deliberate, her gazewanting.

Before another brambled thought could tangle up my mind, I drew her into a kiss that lit fireworks in my chest.

It was terrifying.

Notleastbecause I’d never kissed anyone in my entire life.

I hadn’t had girlfriends when I was a teenager, I was too focused on acting. I hadn’t come from an elite pack like Rook, or a well off family like Ebony and Love. I’d had to burn the candle at both ends to get noticed.

Then… Ihadbeen noticed.

After that, I’d never wanted to touch anyone ever again.

Except Vex.

Her tongue explored my mouth, fingers gripping my cheeks as if she couldn’t get enough of me, and it wasn’t thrilling just because it was my first kiss. It was thrilling because I wanted it. I wanted her when I’d believed I’d never want anyone ever again.

She made me feel, just for a second, like I wasn’t just shattered fragments of a person with nothing to offer.

When the kiss broke, I leaned back, tumbling into desperate chocolate eyes. “You’re perfect,” I told her. “You’re like a dream I can’t quite believe is real.”

Her pupils blew at those words, and she was so close, plush lips parted right before mine, fingers tangling into my hair. “I want you.” The plea was half whisper, half whine.

“I…” I swallowed, something lodged in my chest, the fear I’d just stamped down rising its head again.

How did I explain that it wasn’t her?

I just… I was broken. I couldn’t—

“We don’t have to.” She cut off my thoughts again, touch gone as she drew back. “But if youdidwant me… I thought maybe…” She tucked her hands behind her back, leaning up to whisper in my ear. “I could stay like this, and you could do whatever you liked.”

I blinked, processing what she meant, that nervousness vanishing at what she was offering.

Mother above.

Heat slid through my veins and I knew she’d felt my body’s reaction, close as she was. But… “You shouldn’t… after what just happened—”

“Is exactly why.” She cut me off. “I know I’m safe with you, Drake. If this is what you need to feel safe with me…” Her teeth grazed my earlobe just slightly.

This was madness.

So was the low growl that rose in my chest, possessive and sinful.

I shouldn’t.

I really, really shouldn’t.

But my sanity was fleeing, alpha instincts clawing at my insides, demanding I tell her yes. It was a thousand moments smothered, something feral and desperate that wanted her like she was asking. A moment in which I could reach out, and demand what had been stolen. A moment in which I could—just for a second—be myself again.

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