Page 29 of Yearning For Her

“Looking for you.” He skimmed his fingers up her forearm, sending a thrill across her skin. “The Fates finally chose to smile upon me again.”

She took a step back and rubbed her arm, but she couldn’t erase the effects of his touch. “Why were you looking for me?”

He slipped his hands into the pockets of his long coat and let out a slow breath. “Wanted to see you again. You vanished before I woke, Willow.”

“If…if this is about the condom breaking, it’s fine. I’m on birth control and I’m clean.”

“I could’ve told you that.”

Willow blinked at him. “Are you for real? You think that your word would’ve been enough to convince me? And how did you know that I was clean?”

“Call it…” Keeping his hands in his pockets, he spread his arms to the sides. “Instinct.”

Willow shook her head and pressed her fingers to her temples. “What do you want, Kian?”

“You.”

She froze. “What?”

“I want you. To touch you again. To feel you, to see the pleasure on your face. You left me with nothing but this…need.”

“It was supposed to be one night,” she said, lowering her arms. “That was all.”

Kian tilted his face down, and his eyes held hers as he brushed wisps of hair off her cheek. “What if I want more?”

Willow’s heart quickened with excitement and fear.

In the time since her night with Kian, it had been easy to get over Eli. Not because she hadn’t loved her ex, but because that love had been so one-sided…and it had never been as deep as she’d told herself it was.

Kian had given freely, had read the cues of her body, had anticipated her wants. When she’d taken control, he’d gone along with it. No hesitation or complaints. For all the enjoyment he’d clearly had, he’d made it about her above all else. To have felt so much from a stranger in such a short while, to have felt beautiful, powerful, seen, desired, and loved—even if it was only physical—had really put her relationship with Eli into perspective.

She deserved better than Eli. She didn’t have to settle for someone who didn’t love her the way she loved them.

That didn’t mean she wasn’t hurt. But she'd soon realized that Eli wasn't worth her pain, wasn't worth her tears and heartache.

Everything she’d felt for Eli had been based on an imagined future she’d held in her heart. A future she’d clung to so tightly that she’d blinded herself to what was truly important. Willow and Eli had sex, but not passion. It had never been about them; it had been about him. It had been about what he enjoyed, what he wanted, what pleasure he could take from her.

She’d never fallen into bed at night, swooning over the day they’d shared. She’d never lain awake in the dark, unable to sleep because he was dominating her thoughts.

Not like she had with Kian.

Eli had represented companionship and security, but neither had been real. In a line of subpar boyfriends, he’d simply seemed the most reliable. It was okay that he’d never looked at her like she was the only thing in his world. She’d convinced herself it was enough just to be in his world.

Kian had looked at her like he’d tear apart the universe until the two of them were the only ones left in it.

But she had a feeling that Kian would break her. What she felt for him was too raw, too powerful. If she allowed herself to so much as hope for more with him, she’d only be welcoming pain like she’d never known. She’d be welcoming true heartbreak.

Willow shook her head. “No.”

Kian chuckled and quirked a brow. “Sorry, Violet. I can’t accept that.”

“Kian, that night was…beyond words.”

“I can make every night like that,” he purred.

Her pussy clenched at that rumble in his chest, and she squeezed her thighs together, hoping to alleviate the sudden ache.

It didn’t help one bit.

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