There was a scar below his left eye from when I had struck him.
It had taken the shape of a teardrop.
I branded him. Tattooed him. I did something that would stay with him for all eternity, and I thought myself sick for just thinking this. At the same time, I wanted to slide my thumb across the scar to wipe the tear away. As if it would. My gaze moved across his black eyes, his chiseled jawline.
“Are you a witch?” I asked him in haste. It was the only explanation for the vines and roots he had commanded to hold me still. “The flowers, the roots, the gloves you always wear but won’t tell me why.” I shook my head. “If you’re a witch, you can tell me.”
Stone looked at me for a long moment, standing on the other side of the threshold in a winter coat and boots, clutching a fishing pole in his gloved hand. He was tall, more than six feet, so I lifted my chin to look him in the eyes.
Then finally, “I don’t know what I am.” He looked past me, where it was overcast with a drizzle of snow. I knew because I felt the cool drops fall onto my lashes. “I fear what happened that night frightened you and has changed things between us.” His gaze slammed into mine again, and his fist tightened around the fishing pole. “Never had a woman dare me to abandon all morals and logic and leave me with the desire to force my wretched cock inside her and tear her apart.” A twitch in the corner of his lips. “You should know I thought to apologize for my actions should you return, but my apology wouldn’t be sincere. In spite of it all, I still wanted you in a way I’d never wanted anyone.”
My mouth turned dry.
“Youwantedme ... orwantme, as in still?” I asked.
Stone’s jaw flexed. His eyes dipped down my body, then back to my face.
“Iwantyou,” he said slowly. “As in at all times, I’m afraid.”
Something fierce fluttered in my chest.
“There are things you don’t know about me,” I added.
His nostrils flared. “I know this sea is a despicable brute keeping us apart.”
At that, I smiled. “The sea is the least of our concerns. The people in Weeping Hollow don’t take kindly to strangers. They would burn you if they knew you were here.” I took a step closer. “So, I must warn you. If we both surrender, this tremor between us will only lead to carnage. And we’ll both end up dead.” Stone’s breath stalled, his eyes flicking between mine. I continued, “Then, in the years following our death, they’ll paint us as villains. They’ll tell stories about us in the middle of the night and call it acautionary tale.”
A deadly silence.
He let his breath go, his chest caving. “A tragedy echoing into eternity.”
“One must not have an ounce of control to agree to such a thing.”
He shrugged. “Everyone dies, some more than once, but the true tragedy, I believe, is life being wasted on the afraid. People abuse time too often. Today, my darling, we are alive.” His eyes sailed between mine as he gripped the pole. “Give yourself to me as I give myself to you, never mind the rest.”
“Ourselves as in our bodies? Hearts are off the table?”
“We sinful villains don’t have hearts or happy endings.”
A beat of silence.
A beat of silence.
A beat of silence.
My breath turned shallow as nerves crawled over my skin.
Stone stepped closer, leaned in, and dropped his mouth close to my ear. I could feel his breath and eyes on me. A slight hesitation. “I’m still afraid,” he confessed in a whisper. A secret. “I think it’s okay to be scared. I’ve never met anyone like you, and I’ve never done anything like this before. I’m not even certain if I’m doing it right, but I know that this feels right.”
Stone looked at my mouth, his hand smoothing down the length of my neck as he took another step closer. His chest brushed up against mine, and he let go of a harsh exhale and licked his lips. “Let us take advantage of each other,” he said, daring me to make a move.
With my heart a drum in my chest, I slowly turned my head until my mouth was grazing his. Stone closed his eyes when I kissed his lips softly, gently. Then he let go of the fishing pole, letting it fall against the wall, and took my head into his hands, sweeping me up in a kiss that I sank into.
My blood rushed and my heart flipped, feeling the kiss spread throughout my body, down to the marrow.
“And so, our story begins,” he whispered, afraid.
“So, it does,” I replied, terrified.
