The panic melted into relief. His shoulders dropped. His jaw unclenched. And were those... tears? There was definitely moisture gathering in those gorgeous gray eyes as he looked at me sprawled on the floor in my hospital gown, clinging to my bed for dear life.
“Lina,” he whispered.
Then he was moving, crossing the room in three long strides, dropping to his knees beside me and pulling me into his arms. He held me against his bare chest and I could feel his heart pounding, could feel the way his arms trembled as he crushed me to him.
Every muscle in my body went rigid. A stranger was touching me. A stranger was holding me and crying into my hair and I didn’t know who he was or what he wanted or if I was safe. Ifeltsafe, though. It was so damn confusing, I was losing my mind.
“I missed you so much,” he breathed into my hair. “I thought I was going to die without you. You were gone and I was nothing.Nothingwithout you.”
His voice cracked on the words and I felt his tears dripping onto my shoulder.
I should have pushed him away, maybe screamed for help. I should have done anything other than sit there frozen in the arms of a random man.
But my body... my body wasn’t afraid of him. My body leaned into his touch, craved his warmth, relaxed against him without my permission. It was the strangest, most disorienting sensation. My mind screamed danger while my body hummed with comfort.
And holy shit, he was beautiful. Not just handsome, but devastatingly gorgeous. Sharp jaw covered in stubble, cheekbones that could cut glass, gray eyes rimmed with red from crying but still the most captivating eyes I’d ever seen.
He pulled back slightly, just enough to look at my face, and his eyes dropped to my lips. His hand came up to cup my cheek, his thumb brushing away a tear I hadn’t realized had fallen. My heart stuttered in my chest. My skin tingled where he touched me. Every nerve ending in my body seemed to lean toward him, craving more contact, more warmth, more of whatever this connection was that I couldn’t name or understand.
I didn’t understand any of this. I didn’t understand why I wasn’t terrified, why his touch felt familiar when his face didn’t, or why my body was responding to him when my brain couldn’t even supply his name.
He leaned in.
And instead of stopping him, instead of doing the reasonable thing and pushing this stranger away, I leaned in too.
His lips met mine and everything inside me went quiet. No confusion, no fear, no panic about waking up in a hospital with no memories. Just warmth spreading through my chest as he kissed me with a desperation that told me he’d been waiting a long time for this.
His tears mixed with the kiss, salty on my tongue, and his hand slid into my hair to hold me closer. He kissed me thoroughly, completely, holding nothing back. And I kissed him back as if I was possessed. Maybe I was. Possessed by a very,veryhorny spirit.
When he finally pulled away, we were both breathing hard. His forehead rested against mine, his eyes closed, a small smile on his lips.
“I love you,” he murmured. “I love you so much, Lina.”
My heart squeezed.
And then reality crashed back in.
What was I doing? I had just kissed a stranger who had walked out of a bathroom and grabbed me and I had just... let him. Kissed him back, even. What the hell was wrong with me? This man could be anyone. He could be dangerous.
The guilt hit me, because this man was confusing me with someone else and the horny spirit in me totally took advantage of that. I was a shitty person.
“I’m sorry,” I said, my voice rough from disuse. “I think you’re confused.”
His eyes snapped open. The smile disappeared.
“What?”
“Well, you see...” I bit my lip, suddenly very aware that I was still pressed against his bare chest. I needed space and to think, to get away from this man and figure out what the hell was goingon. “I don’t know you. But it was a nice kiss. Whoever you love must be a lucky person.”
I tried to smile at him, hoping it came across as apologetic rather than terrified or guilty. Because I, somehow, felt guilty. This gorgeous man was clearly taken, clearly in love with someone, and I had just taken advantage of his misunderstanding.
But he wasn’t smiling back. His expression had gone from relieved to confused to panicked in the span of three seconds.
“What do you mean you don’t know me?” he asked, his voice strained. “Lina, it’s me. It’s Knox. Your mate. Yourhusband.”
I blinked at him. Husband? This gorgeous stranger was claiming to be my husband?!
“I’m sorry, I really don’t...”
