A dazzling smile formed on her lips as she gazed into his emerald eyes and pressed her lips to his. His hand cupped her cheek and drew her closer as if he couldn’t get enough. Her skin tingled, and she couldn’t tell if it was from magic or simply the way her skin felt like it was on fire every time he touched her. Her lips parted as his hand slipped into her hair, tugging lightly and angling her head up for more. His tongue swept into her mouth as his other hand lightly trailed down to her lower back, sending shivers up her spine. He pulled her closer, closing any distance there was between them.
Breathless, he pulled away, but his hand stayed tangled in her hair. His eyes didn’t move from hers.
They were no longer on the beach. Distracted with kissing him, she hadn’t noticed that Dominic had flown them to a secluded cliff with trees towering all around them.
He leaned in closer, resting his forehead against hers. His lips parted as if to speak, but paused. Eyes closed, he let out a deep breath, suddenly at a loss for words. His jaw twitched, lips quivering as if it physically pained him to say whatever unspoken words were stuck in his throat. Dominic’s fingers threaded through her hair, palm pressed at the small of her back, desperately clinging to her as if she might walk away any second.
“Dom,” she whispered, bringing her hand to his cheek.
His lips parted again, words spilling out breathlessly. “I want to get to know every part of you . . . with my hands and with my heart,” he murmured.
Her thumb stroked his cheek, wiping away some of the remaining stardust. She wanted to believe those words so badly.
So she did, but only for a moment. She could pretend.
For the sake of her shattered, lonely heart, she could pretend. “I want to know every part of you, too.”
Chapter 58
Fearoverwhelmedhim.Browsknitted together, lips turned down, Dominic shook his head gravely. His hands cupped her cheeks, holding her face as if it would protect her. “No, you don’t,” he whispered. There was not a single piece of his soul that wasn’t touched by hers, but he did not want the shadowy crevice of where his heart should reside to snuff out her light. “It’s too dark for you.”
It killed him to hear such yearning in her voice. Adara stared at him with such sympathy. He felt utterly naked beneath her gaze. So vulnerable. It terrified him.
Her fingers grazed the back of his hand, calm, unfaltering. “Then it’s too dark for you, as well,” she said.
He shook his head gently. “I’ve grown used to it.”
“You don’t have to.” Sapphire eyes that matched the stars shone with such longing in them as Adara gazed at him. “I’d burn if it meant I could provide a light for you.” The words slipped through her mouth with so much desire that she couldn’t be lying. It might kill her in the end, but she was falling through infinite endings, praying he’d catch her in one where they could be together.
Dominic had always been good at winning hearts. But he’d also only ever known to carve them from their chests, not cradle them with gentle, loving hands.
He prayed he wouldn’t let her down.
The stars tried their hardest with their brilliant blue glow as they danced across the sky, telling stories of the gods, but not even their magic could tear his eyes away from the allure that was her. Hope sparked, hot and bright inside him.
Dominic pressed his lips against her forehead. She leaned into him and it felt like a thousand promises of the future.
“I appreciate that, love,” he said softly. “But I could never let you do such a thing.” His arms wrapped her in a tight embrace, drawing her in as close as possible. Holding her as if he could hold her broken pieces together, long enough for them to mend.
Adara rested her head against his chest. Her hair was silky and damp upon his cheek as he leaned his head against hers. Her arms wrapped around him, clinging tightly, as if never wanting to let go.
“Out of all the things that have gone terribly wrong in my life,” he whispered against her hair, “you, Adara, are the only thing that has ever felt right.” That had ever made himfeel.Something he’d been trying to evade for centuries. But with her, it all came rushing back.
Adara’s eyes met his, and it took everything in him not to end this war right here. Not to say those three words that would lead to his demise.
“You’re not afraid I’ll hurt you?” she asked, eyes searching his, desperate and pleading. A deep fear that had settled within her for all of her life, as someone whose power was meant to destroy.
He let out a bittersweet laugh. “Quite the opposite, actually,” he admitted. His blood rushed, adrenaline coursing through his veins. He hated her so much. She made him feelso much. It terrified him more than anything he’d faced in his lifetimes.
Dominic’s lips brushed hers, an easy escape, but he forced himself to draw back to tell her the truth so it would stop weighing on him. To tell her the truth because that was what her eyes were begging for.
“I’m terrified you’ll hurt me in a thousand ways,” he whispered. “And the worst part is . . . I’d let you. Just to know that you feelanythingat all for me. Just to know that it’syoumaking me feel something, even if it’s pain.” He kissed her again, tasting her as if he’d been starving for centuries. Against her lips, he murmured, “Darling, you could set the world on fire, and I’d gladly burn in the flames of desire.”
A teardrop rolled down Adara’s face. He lifted a hand to brush it away.
Pain shot through his chest, sharp and deep as he gazed at her. She was looking at him with such agony, such despair, that it physically pained him to see her like that.
What was wrong? Hadn’t this been what she wanted? To finally know the real him. To see his armor peeled away and his soul laid bare for her to piece back together. He couldn’t fathom why her sapphire eyes glowed with such immense sorrow.
