My arms wrapped around his neck, my lips pressed against his, and he growled low in his throat before he took us both under.
TWENTY-THREE
AVA
Underneath the depths,Naz kept me pressed to his chest, our lips together. Our feet touched the bottom, and when he pushed against it, we flew upwards.
After we broke the surface, I took a breath.
A second later, my lungs were straining again, but this time it wasn’t from the deep depths and holding my breath—or maybe it was, but it was the intensity of Naz’s kiss, and the air he seemed to be breathing into me.
He was kissing me like a man caught up in an airstream, the current pulling him past my lips, even though his tongue caressed mine. It was like he was coaxing my heart and soul out with something both had been starving for—a gentleness layered with fierceness.
His touch was as warm and soft as the water, and he glided his fingertips up my arms, directing me to set them around his neck. I wrapped my legs around his waist as he moved us toward the steps.
Water that seemed neon blue in the darkness dripped down our bodies as he carried me inside his penthouse.
I went to look away from him, but he refused to let me.
“Eyes on me, Ava,” he said. “This is as vital as being buried deep inside of you. The connection. It will take our bodies higher than the sky.”
I whimpered against his mouth, and he kissed me, and I might as well have been underwater again. It was the same sensation, disorienting, no control, but at the same time, it was breaking the surface after the crash and flying across the sky—free as a bird leaving its weights behind.
He stopped walking and just…looked into my eyes. “Do not be afraid of this. Do not be afraid of me. Do not be afraid of us, and what you are feeling.”
“How do you know what I’m feeling?” I whispered.
He set my hand over his heart, and it was beating as hard and as fast as mine. “I am feeling it as well—it is the moment before you carve out my heart and leave your picture in my chest to replace it. A picture no amount of time can touch.” He pressed my hand even harder against his chest. “Bravery does not always mean fighting, Ava. It also means we know when to surrender to our fate with grace.”
Surrender.
That was a word rarely used in my head dictionary.
Because it was a fucking scary one.
It meant setting my weapons down and removing my life’s well-constructed armor.
I went to kiss him, but he didn’t kiss me back.
He wanted an answer from me.
With quivering bones and a throbbing heart, I nodded and touched my forehead to his. He breathed out and pulled my lips back to his, flying me to heights I was lost in.
I wasn’t sure what room we ended up in, but the lights were turned out, and he set me down on something cold. I could make out the shape and texture by running my trembling hands along it. A plinth made of marble.
A small spark came through the darkness, and sulfur dioxide floated in the air.
Then his face was lit by a single candle flame.
It brought the room to life, though it made it seem hazy, more romantic.
Softer.
I liked that.
The silky light helped me settle into my bones, accept that this body belonged to me, and this man was going to crave it despite the skin dented underneath the armor.
Our shadows rose and fell along the wall like magic.
