June nods quickly. “Of course. I’ll be in the waiting room if you need anything.” With one last, fleeting glance at me, she slips out of the room, closing the door softly behind her.
The departure leaves a silence that Xavier and I are left to fill. He sits beside me on the bed, his presence both comforting and slightly overwhelming.
“Xavier, I know what you were doing, and I…” The words get stuck in my throat, the guilt behind them choking me. “I can’t accept it.”
“Delilah, I did what was necessary to?—”
I shake my head and tighten my grip on his hand. “I can’t take the heart. It’s not right.”
He exhales slowly, brushing his thumb over my knuckles. It takes him a few moments to speak, but when he does, his voice is steady. Fortified. “This is about preventing your death, Delilah.”
I bow my head, unable to meet his gaze. The intensity of his stare. “I understand, but I can’t be responsible for other people’s deaths.”
“You’re not. I am.”
“But you did it for me,” I say.
“Yes, because you are my life.”
I meet his gaze, taking in the fierceness of his words while urging him to see my point-of-view. He means what he’s saying, but that doesn’t make it right. “I love you, but I can’t act like I agree with this. Please tell me the donor is still alive.”
Xavier shoots me a pointed look. “The man is dead. The medical team is preparing the organ right now.”
“This is so wrong,” I whisper, my voice breaking. “I won’t take it. I can’t live with myself if I do.”
“So, you’d rather die?” His question is a near shout, his barely contained anger and fear slamming into me with every word. “Is that what you want? Because that’s what will happen if you don’t go through with the transplant.”
His words sting, a harsh reminder of the reality of my situation. But they also reinforce my resolve. “I have years to find another donor. Awillingdonor.”
“You don’t know that. If you have another heart attack, you could fucking die. That’s what you’re agreeing to.”
“I don’t want to die, but how can I live with myself knowing that the heart beating inside me?—”
“You aren’t going to die!” Xavier yells, his voice rising in a rare show of unchecked emotion. He jumps to his feet, ripping his hand from mine. “I won’t fucking let you!”
“Xavier, please listen.”
His hand shoots out to grab me by the throat, forcing my head back until our gazes collide. “No, you listen to me, little raptor. I would let the world burn for you. I would kill everyone on this goddamn planet to keep you safe. I will always choose you, regardless of the cost. There is nothing and no one that matters more to me than you. You. Are. Everything.”
I can’t breathe. I can’t think. His words are a hurricane of emotions battering against my heart, leaving it raw and exposed. I understand his pain, his desperation, because I feel it too.
I would do anything for him.
“I can’t do this,” I whisper.
He leans closer, his lips inches from mine, his fingers digging into my flesh. “Then I’ll make you.”
Before I can respond, his mouth crashes down on mine in a brutal kiss, a battle of wills and desires. I taste blood, his or mine, and a moan slips past my lips, mingling with his growl of possession. His grip tightens, and he angles my head to the side, deepening the kiss. His tongue demands entrance, and I yield,surrendering to his dominance. I let him consume me, even as I cling to the last shred of my resolve.
The world falls away, and there’s only him and me, a tempest of lust and fury. My body responds, a traitor to my morals, and my hands slide up his arms, clinging to his shoulders as his tongue sweeps into my mouth. He kisses me until I’m dizzy, until the only thing tethering me to reality is his touch.
And then he breaks the kiss, his breathing ragged, his eyes blazing with an intensity that takes my breath away. “If you won’t do this for yourself, then do it for me,” he whispers. “I can’t lose you, Delilah. I. Fucking. Can’t.”
“Xavier—”
“Please.” His voice breaks on the word. It’s a tiny crack in his armor, a glimpse of the fear and pain beneath. It’s a request for something I can’t deny.
The air around us is heavy with tension, and I struggle to draw breath, my own emotions a storm of contradictions. “Okay,” I whisper, the word a surrender, a concession to the only person who’s ever broken down my walls and slipped past my defenses.
