“Do you want to see?”
“Am I allowed?” I breathe, stepping forward in anticipation.
He nods, “I’m done.”
“What is it?” I ask, closing the space between us. He immediately lifts his hands to cup my face, the tender way he does a pull on my heart as if trying to mend the broken pieces our secret is leaving behind.
He leans in and gently presses his mouth to mine, his tongue tracing the seam of my lips. I open to allow him access, melting into him as he deepens the kiss and steals my breath.
“If you don’t like it, I’ll paint over it,” He mumbles against my mouth.
“Show me,” I plead softly.
Letting me go, he grips my hand and moves us into the studio. The lights are off inside, plunging the room into darkness but before I can flick the switch to turn on the lights, his body is behind mine, chest pressing to my spine.
“Are you ready?” He whispers, his breath teasing against the shell of my ear.
“Yes.”
I feel him shift and then the light comes on, stinging my eyes momentarily before they have a chance to adapt. And then I see it and it steals the breath from my lungs.
I don’t know what to think, what to feel as I stare at the piece of art ahead of me.
It’s a thousand periwinkle sunsets, sunsets I chase, the colors a blend that soothes a part of my soul. Streaks of paint represent the sun hidden behind fluffy clouds in a hue of pinks and purples. Every curve, shadow, and highlight has been painstakingly added, the level of detail making it look like a photo rather than a painting.
“You did this?” My voice shakes as I speak and I hadn’t even realized I’d started to cry but there’s a fat, warm tear rolling down my cheek. I can’t take my eyes off of the piece. It covers the entirety of the wall, edge to edge, every section different from the last.
“For you,” Killian runs his fingers up the side of my neck. “Do you like it?”
“I – ” I suck in a sharp breath, trying to calm the erratic way my heart is pounding. “Killian.”
“You think I don’t see the way you watch the sky?” He says, “I noticed it way before this ever began, Tiny Dancer. Your soul seems at peace the most when the sky looks like this. This is your favorite color, your favorite time of day.”
Another tear rolls down my cheek and drips off mychin, “Yes.”
“You watch the way the sun streaks out of the clouds but all I see is the way the light reflects in your eyes.” His fingers comb through my hair, “I love the way you watch the sunset Savannah. Like you’re seeing it for the first time every time you look at it.”
“You noticed all that?” I turn to him only to see he is already looking at me.
“You’re a never-ending book, every time I think I’ve reached the end, there’s another chapter when I turn the page and I can’t stop reading, Savannah.”
The embers of us are burning hot and bright, turning into an inferno inside of me. My soul is tied to this man.
“Kiss me,” I beg, stepping closer to him.
His dark, fathomless eyes bounce around mine, for once they’re windows, looking into the complex web that makes this man who he is. He is raw and open, and seeing it only makes me fall deeper.
I am in love with Killian Archer and my soul be damned, I’d follow this man through flames and destruction just to chase this feeling inside of me. It’s consuming me entirely.
And then he lunges, his hands cupping my face as his lips descend. I fall into him with a desperation that makes my whole-body ache, matching each stroke of his tongue with my own, devouring him as greedily as he is me.
He presses us together until our heartbeats clash furiously and all I can do is hold on. My fingers curl into his paint wet clothes and I feel it smear into my skin from his hands on my cheeks, the smell of it mixing with the scent of him. I should probably worry about getting it all over the place but all I can think of right now is letting him own me.
I want to feel him in the fabrics of my being, threaded into me until there’s no untangling him. Before I even realize we’re moving, my back hits the wall of mirrors, arched at an angle since there’s a pole that runs horizontally in front of it, but Kill only uses that to his advantage as he grinds his hips forward, pressing his hard cock into me.
“You feel what you do, baby?” He rasps as his teeth bite down onto my bottom lip. The pain is a shock that quickly turns to pleasure when his tongue soothes the sting. “So fucking hard for you. I cannot get enough.”
“Then take,” I offer, “I’m yours, Killian.”
