I couldn’t let that happen.
I was desperate to conceal it, hide it, push it away, or fill it.
“Your heart is beating incredibly fast,” Cyrus said, able to hear it as he walked closer, and nerves began to creep inside me. “You’re hiding something. You’vebeenhiding something, I can tell.” My blood only pumped harder, faster. Could he see Stone in my mind, or could he only read my senses? “I always knew you were secretive, Adora, and I’ve respected that, but when it starts coming between us—” I captured his mouth in a frantic kiss, quieting him after meeting him at the end of the banister.
At first, Cyrus’s brows jumped as he stood stunned.
For a handful of slow seconds, everything had gone quiet.
Then he raised his hands until they were cradling my head. He leaned forward, mouth opening, tongue meeting tongue, lips tasting lips, sucking on the bottom, and there was no escaping what I’d done.
He was kissing me, and I was kissing him back, sweeping my tongue across his, both soothing this ache and seeing how long it took for my heart to stop chastising me. And I was kissing him,desperately, almostseverelyin howbadlyI wanted to fill the hole Stone had left.
Cyrus must’ve tasted the despair on my lips because he turned, falling back against the banister, taking me with him. He grabbed my hip and nailed me to his pelvis. Between us, his stretched erection was stiff against my abdomen. Moaning, humming, he sank into my mouth again, and I was sinking further into his arms.
I turned him on. My best friend. My sister’s ex-boyfriend.
He turned me on. My best friend. My sister’s ex-boyfriend.
And if it weren’t for Stone, this would have been the kiss that changed everything between us. This would have been the moment I fell in love with Cyrus Cantini. I just knew it. I just felt it in my bones.
An onslaught of anger, guilt, and deception came over me.
Angry with myself for allowing Stone and I to go as far as we did.
Angry with Stone for making me feel this way.
Guilty for escaping rather than facing.
Guilty for betraying both Stone and my home.
Deception for lying, lying, lying.
My eyes squeezed shut to fight off the beating waves.
There was no point in regretting this kiss, either. Stone was gone and Cyrus was going to be my husband. And I suppose, through the heartbreak and misery, the only person I’d want to sink into the arms of was Cyrus, as I’d always done in the past. Except this time, it was different.
Cyrus pulled away, pale blue eyes swimming across my face.
“Don’t you dare feel guilty about this,” he said, his voice low against my lips. “It’s okay if it feels right. It’s supposed to.” My head was shaking, and he grabbed it. “Yes,” he whispered with a nod. And his mouth brushed mine until it opened, and he was taking me all over again.
A fit of laughter came from around the corner. It was Cyrus’s younger brothers, a giggle from one accompanied by“Gross”from the other.
I felt Cyrus’s smile on my lips before he ripped away from our kiss.
He dropped his head back and looked at the ceiling with a stunned grin. “Five thousand square feet and no respect for privacy.” I forced a laugh and stepped to the side, but Cyrus’s hand at the base of my spine pulled me back. He pressed me firmly against his erection. “We just need to wait here for a second,” he insisted, gazing down at me with steel-blue bedroom eyes. They moved between mine, then fell to my mouth. “But something tells me this won’t help at all.”
His dick twitched against my lower belly.
“It’s making it worse.” In every way possible.
Cyrus turned his head to the side with a chuckle. “You’re right,” he said, easing back, trying to create space between us without having to create space between us. His hands came down on the sides of my head, smoothing my hair back until I was looking up at him.
“Adora Oria, you’re killing me,” he said.
A burn jumped into my throat. I instantly was taken back to the shore with Stone hovering above me, the stars in the night sky surrounding his face as I looked up at him.
“You’re killing me,”Stone had said just before filling me with his cock for the last time.You’re killing me,I wished I could tell him. And my heart.
