Page 103 of Yearning For Her

What did the length of time they’d known each other matter? She’d been with Eli for three years, and it hadn’t resulted in love, faithfulness, or respect. What Willow had come to feel for Kian in the short time they’d known each other, what she’d felt from him, was so much more genuine and meaningful than anything she could’ve found with Eli or anyone else in a lifetime.

The Fates have marked you as mine.

Maybe it had just been a matter of time, of overcoming trials, before Willow and Kian could meet that day. Maybe soulmates were real…and Kian was hers.

I love Kian.

Her earlier panic didn’t return.

Willow lowered her hands. “I love Kian.”

“You go girl!” some said in a slurred voice from the stall beside Willow’s.

Willow’s cheeks warmed, but she laughed.

She cleaned herself, pulled her underwear back up, and smoothed her dress. After flushing the toilet, she stepped out of the stall to wash her hands. When she looked up at herself in the mirror, she was smiling.

I love Kian.

And maybe…maybe he loves me too.

He was also out there, waiting for her. Worried for her.

No more hiding. No more running.

Anxious to get back to Kian, Willow dried her hands and hurried out of the restroom, plunging back into the dark nightclub with its flashing lights and thumping music. Turning her body, she slipped between a couple large groups that stood about conversing and drinking and looked up toward the table where Kian was sitting.

She froze.

There were three women gathered around Kian. One was sitting atop the table, skirt drawn up high and legs crossed, enticingly running her fingers up and down her bare thighs. Another was seated in the chair Willow had vacated. The last stood behind Kian with her hands braced on the back of his chair as she leaned over him, speaking with her mouth near his ear. Her long, blonde hair fell over his shoulder.

Kian’s lips moved. Willow couldn’t make out anything he said, but that didn’t matter, because the woman grinned, cupped his face, turned it toward her, and pressed her mouth to his.

Everything inside Willow turned cold, so cold that it was difficult to draw a breath. All the hurt and betrayal she’d felt from Eli and the others before him roared to the surface, and all of it combined still couldn’t compare to the pain she felt in that moment.

No. No, please, no.

Tears blurred her eyes.

Not him. Not Kian.

But what Willow was seeing didn’t disappear. Kian was still there, and so was that woman kissing him.

And Willow couldn’t stay there and watch. She turned and fled, pushing through the crowd, her vision obscured by tears that would not stop falling. A sob caught in her throat, and she clamped her lips together to hold it in as best she could.

Finally, she reached the exit and burst out into the cool night air. She sucked in one breath after another, clutching her hand to her chest as though it could hold together the pieces of her breaking heart.

She should have known. Should have known that what she had with Kian wasn’t real. But she’d convinced herself, had let herself hope, had believed she—

No. She did love him. Because if she didn’t, why would it hurt this badly?

Was she truly that unlovable? Was it really so easy for people to use her and cast her aside? And Kian…

If she wasn’t even good enough for the humans she’d dated, how could she ever have been good enough for an incubus? It had only been a matter of time before Kian grew bored and moved on.

A new anguish seared her heart as a worse thought flitted through her mind.

What if it had all been a ruse because Willow was the only one Kian could feed from? What if all the sweet, passionate words he’d spoken had stemmed from his survival instinct and not anything he truly felt for her? What if everything they’d shared had been built on lies and deception?

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