My head snaps to the banging on the door.
It grows louder as I walk up to it.“What now?” I bark, ready to thump whichever one of them has come back. But when the door opens, I freeze.
Her electric ice-blues hit me right in the chest.
The fuck is she doing here? I let her the fuck go. What more can I give her?
“Are you seriously letting me go?” Eva croaks, streaming with tears. I instinctively reach for her face and wipe oneunder her eye. She smacks my hand away. “I asked you a question.”
“Isn’t that what you want?” I put my hands in my pockets.
“Since when do you care what I want?” She takes a step closer.
“Since you turned into a fucking ghost.” My gaze traces her from head to toe.
“It’s that easy?” Her voice vibrates between us. “You’re not even going to fight me?”
“I call every day.” I lift a shoulder.
“You didn’t tonight,” she says, like an accusation.
I stare at her, my seared chest rising and falling with quiet desperation.What is she doing to me?I did the fucking impossible. Must she torture me now, too? Not that I don’t deserve it all. But there is only so long I can hold the reins to the beast that wants to break free and crawl inside her.
“So, what now?” she asks when I don’t speak. “You’re going to marry Lottie? Move her into our bed?”
“Maybe.” I shrug.
Her nostrils flare, chin trembling. Then she raises a hand and slaps me across the face. I saw it coming, but didn’t dare stop it. She has the right to hit me. She haseveryright. Period.
I crack my jaw then look at her streaming eyes, letting my grin slip. Which earns me another hit, but this time I grab her wrist an inch from my face and pull her in.
“You’ll hurt your hand.”
“Never mind my hand, you broke my heart, Mason,” she sobs. “You did the one thing you swore you would never do. Was that a lie, too? Was I just some pawn in our families’ games?”
Every word out of her mouth sends heat ripping through my veins. I grab her waist and pull her into me.
“You think it was easy for me to walk away from you today? When you ached like that and looked like this? You don’t thinkI have plotted kidnapping you every single day since you left me? I can’t sleep in my bed, can’t wear my fucking jacket because it still smells like you. I can’t even scorch my agony in cigarettes because of the shit you said.”
She holds my gaze, tears cascading down her cheeks like a punishment I’m forced to witness, but not allowed to heal.
“I would do anything for you, Eva.” My fingers curl around her hip, a muscle ticking in my jaw at how thin she feels. “Just tell me what it is you want.”
She stares at me for a brief moment, then rises onto her toes and drops a peck on my lips. The warmth of her touch, which I have been craving for too long, freezes me in place.
“Don’t fuck with me, Eva,” I grit out, my lips barely moving. “I deserve everything you throw at me, but I can’t do this again.I won’t.If you come back to me, I’m barricading the fucking doors. You will never leave me again.”
She smiles through her tears and places a hand on my chest, pushing me into the room, then crosses the threshold and takes her time locking the door and hooking the chain.
“Done,” she murmurs. And I’m a goner.
I crush my mouth to hers. Her arms snake around my back, claiming me with a quiet insistence, as I lift her into my arms and carry her in. My hands slope down the length of her, ripping the heels off her feet, my fangs digging into her soft lips so deep, I draw blood. I drink in her earthy taste and something else. Something too fucking familiar that trickles down to my lungs, turning my vision red.
I yank her head back. Hard.
“Did you kiss another man?” I hiss against her mouth. Her brows scrunch. “Why do you taste of smoke?”
“It’s mine,” she replies with a secret smile and brushes my lower lip with a finger. “I was cravingyourtaste.”
