I kissed her right on those gorgeous fucking lips. I told myself it was gratitude, but as soon as my lips met hers, I knew it was so much more than that.
She froze under me like a deer in headlights, but she didn’t move away.
I kissed her in slow, soft laps, the tip of my tongue flicking over her decadent mouth. Finally, her soft, wet lips slid against mine, her head tilting to press in, to kiss me back. I moaned at the sensation, her lips so soft and inviting, like they were made for me.
Lips parted and I swept my tongue in her mouth.Fuck. She was sweeter and more intoxicating than the wildest of fantasies that had haunted my solitude. My little badass was exquisite, erotic.
Something split wide inside me and reached for her with greedy phantom hands.
I needed more. More Miranda. More of her hardness, more of her softness. I’d drink every last drop of her, no matter how bitter or sweet. Heat and tingles whipped around inside me, stirring an insatiable hunger.
When my gaze met hers, I found the same intense passion mirrored there. Her hooded, lust-filled eyes, usually composed, were wide with an emotion that echoed my own – a raw, wild desire. An affirmation that she, too, was lost in this whirlpool of shared intensity. The sight of her, so unguarded, did unspeakable things to me. I knew then that our passions were intertwined.
Her shuddering breath puffed against my lips as her fingers burrowed into my hair. She kissed me like she had never kissed anyone before, like she was discovering a new world.
I tasted her fear, her pleasure, her deep dark passion.
She wasn’t close enough. The hand cupping her chin moved to the base of her skull, while my other one grasped her sexy hip. I pulled her closer, which pushed the sword deeper into my heart. I grunted as I felt life bleed from me faster, but it was worth it to get closer to her warm skin.
Though I tried to ignore it, the darkness closed in around me, relentless, pulling me away from Miranda’s sweetness. For the first time ever, I wanted to cling to life, just for a little longer.
The last thought I had before succumbing to oblivion was I hoped this was my last death rather than never taste her again.
ChapterFourteen
THE BADASS
The next morning, I lay in bed, until almost seven AM. It was my day off, but I was still usually up and at ‘em by five.
Maybe I was getting sick. That was the only explanation for what was happening in my body.
Unless your kakuchie can catch cold, this is not that,my brain informed me.
“Shut up.”
Last night, Xander kissed me.
Since I’d stepped into that basement, Xander excited parts of me I long thought dead. He turned me into a puddle of liquid heat, but I never let it compromise me. Even though I’d traced the outline of his perfect lips with my eyes, I never expected him to lay them on me.
When he did, it changed everything. The moment his lips pressed against mine, I went from being a bystander in a muted life to the strongest yet most vulnerable version of myself. It was like coming back to life, as I served him death.
My finger pads ghosted over my lips, chasing the phantom pressure of his, trying to rekindle the sensation. Or maybe, just maybe, I was attempting to understand how one man's kiss could cause such a seismic shift in me.
Was the kiss so intense because he was a god, or because it had been so long?
Years, my judgmental brain whispered.
“Shut up. I’ve been busy raising a son and working,” I said out loud again. Still, a gnawing sensation ate at my gut, demanding attention, or the very least, a name.
Loneliness, my brain whispered again.
“Arrgh,” I cried out even as I paced the living room. “How dare you think that. You don’t need anything else. You have friends. You have a son who is amazing, kind and smart.”
But no matter what I said, I felt the effects of a need I’d tried so hard to shove away. And I fucking hated it.
I would have called a friend, but it was daylight and Vivien was likely already asleep, and Aaron was off rock climbing for the entire weekend. There was no one.
There’s someone,my stupid brain said again.
