His jaw tightens. “Move, Kaia.”
I straighten my spine, rising to my tiptoes so it draws me to eye level.Almost. “No.”
He rests his palm against the door behind me with a sigh, his hand directly beside my head and I shrink back to my usual height as he towers over me. I have to crane my neck to look up at him.
“Why do you have to be so goddamn stubborn?” he grumbles.
“Why do you have to be such an ass?” I counter. “Is it such a crime to not want to see you suffer? I don’t know what’s causing your nightmares, I’m guessing it’s something to do with your time in prison, or what happened with your mom,and I’m not going to ask you to tell me. I know you will if you want to and I’ll be here ready to listen if you do.” I take a breath, placing my palm against the racing beat of his heart. “Killian, you’ve been through so much in your life, you’ve been abandoned by the people who were supposed to love and protect you. I guess I just want you to know you’re not alone, not anymore. I’m here and I’mnotgoing to leave you. I don’t want to be the one you run from, if you’re struggling, I want to be the one you runto. I know yo—” My rambling words are swallowed up when he slams his mouth down onto mine, and it takes a few seconds for my brain to catch up.
Killian’s kissing me.
The man who doesn’t kiss is kissingme.
And it feels unreal.Surreal.
Am I dreaming?
Our lips part, his brows pulling tight as his eyes flick back and forth between mine, almost as if the kiss surprised him as much as it did me.
He’s going to pull back, I know it. He’s going to tell me it was all a mistake, a moment of weakness that won’t be repeated and I’ll be forced to pretend it never happened. Forced to go on and ignore the feelings he stirs inside me, forced to pretend thatthatkiss wasn’t everything.
I brace myself for it. Ready myself for that sinking sensation in my stomach I’m certain is coming when he releases my face.
But it never comes. He takes my mouth again, only harder this time.
Hungrier.
He pushes me backwards against the door, his fingers diving into my hair as he deepens the kiss, his warm softlips gliding effortlessly over mine like he was made to do this. The coarseness of his beard grazes my delicate skin and I welcome the burn, it only stokes the fire simmering low in my belly.
For a man who doesn’t kiss, he’s sure good at it.
I lock my hands around his wrists to steady myself, his kiss making me heady. It has me feeling like I’m drunk, and I suppose I am. I’m drunk onhim, drunk on his kiss, in the way his tongue skims the seam of my lips, searching for entry into my mouth and it’s hard not to lose myself in his touch.
It feels so good.
I want to remember this kiss, savour the feeling in case this is the first and last time I ever feel it.
He controls the kiss and it soon becomes frenzied and messy. His hands are everywhere; in my hair, cupping my face, grasping at any part of me he can get his hands on as if he can’t get enough, his weight pressing me further against the door like he can’t get close enough.
He’s a perfect contradiction. His lips are soft but his kiss hard and demanding. The desperation in his touch a sharp contrast to the languid strokes of his tongue against mine.
He bends to lift me, guiding my legs around his waist as he pins me between his body and the door, grinding the hardening bulge in his boxers against me and I grow more desperate for him with each roll of his hips.
“I can’t stop kissing you,” he pants against my mouth before diving back in for more.
My body hums, my lips tingling.
“Then don’t,” I reply breathlessly, my heart beating wildly against my ribs, never wanting this feeling to end.
My fingers rake through the dark, silky locks of his hair,pulling it free from the rubber band that ties it all together at the back of his head, allowing it to fall free.
“I fucking need you, butterfly. Say I can have you,” he rasps.
“You have me. I want this. I want you.” I want this more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life.
He drops me back onto my feet. “Need to get you ready to take me. Need to get you nice and wet.”
Well, after a kiss likethat, it shouldn’t take long.
