“Aren’t enemies supposed to betray each other?”
He’s quiet for a long moment. Water pitter-patters against the marble. Steam curls between us like secrets. And every breath he exhales, I inhale greedily into my lungs.
“Are we still enemies?” he asks.
“If we aren’t enemies, what are we?”
His eyes search my face. I don’t know what he’s looking for—truth? Lies? The crack in my armor that will let him see everything I’m hiding? Slowly, his eyes harden, but the monster still refuses to return.
I wonder if this afternoon has killed that monster off for good.
“If you ever betray me,malyshka,” he says softly. “Then you’ll wish you were still my enemy.”
The words terrify me, but not in the way that they would have a few weeks ago. They also do something else—something darker, hungrier, and more shameful than anything I’ve felt before. They move through my blood like smoke and settle in places that no other words and no other man has ever reached.
I hold his gaze, and he holds mine.
Then, he leaps the gap and kisses me.
It’s not gentle. It’s not soft. It’s not a kiss you give someone you’re trying to comfort.
It’s a kiss you give someone you want toclaim, all teeth and tongue and coiled tension that have finally snapped.
I kiss him back.
My hands flatten against his chest. His hands tangle in my hair. The water pours over us. I taste salt—from the sea, from my tears, and from whatever disaster we’re careening toward at full speed—and I don’t care.
I don’t care about anything except the way his mouth moves against mine, demanding and desperate and everything that I can possibly want in this moment.
And all around us, hatred and attraction swirl.
All the circling, sparring, and endless push and pull have led us to this moment right here. Here, in the water, and in each other’s arms, the distance shrinks into nothing until I can’t tell where I end and where he begins.
And the only thing I know for certain is that I’m kissing my enemy.
I’m kissing my brother’s killer.
I’m kissing the man I swore I’d destroy.
And God help me?—
I never want to stop.
27
BELLA
Oh God…
My lips part, and his tongue sweeps in to trace the roof of my mouth. Mine dart forward to meet his. Molten desire moves through my body. Blood pounds in my ears. My mouth opens further and I start sucking his tongue greedily.
His hands find the straps of my one-piece and pull them down past my shoulders. The navy fabric peels away from my skin until it pools at my feet on the floor.
When I’m completely naked, he breaks the kiss, steps back and looks at me. Those gray eyes of his trail heat along my body as he memorizes every detail, every curve, every swell, and every dot of goosebump rising on my skin.
His jaw is tight. His chest rises and falls with breaths that seem too controlled, like he’s fighting something.
Don’t fight it. Lose control.I’ve already lost mine.
