He’d put it together piece by piece, and when he did, he’d see me for what I really was…obsessed, broken,wrong.
He’d see the freak I’d been trying so hard not to be.
I tried to twist away, but his grip only tightened, grounding me. “Hey,” he murmured, his voice dropping into something softer…coaxing. “Look at me.”
I couldn’t. My eyes stayed locked on the hollow of his throat, the way his pulse beat steady under the skin. He ducked his head, chasing my gaze until I had no choice.
“Ophelia.” Another slow, deliberate roll of my name. My spine arched without permission. “I’m not asking for a résumé. I’m just asking for…you.”
His thumb brushed the waistband of my jeans, a touch so light it felt like a question, and his mouth found the curve of my ear, his breath warm against my skin.
“I want the parts you’re scared to show anyone,” he said, softer now, like it was a promise instead of a threat. “The ones you hide. I wantallof it.”
The words sank into me, molten and dangerous, and for a heartbeat I couldn’t tell if he was saving me or destroying me.
My lungs burned.Just once, the thought whispered, wild and traitorous.One night. One taste. Then I’ll let him go. I’ll bleed him out of my system and pretend I’m clean again.
His hand slid beneath my shirt, his palm flat against my stomach, heat spreading fast until it hurt to stand still. “Tell me no,” he whispered in a frayed voice. “Say it, and I’ll stop.”
But I couldn’t. The word tangled in my throat and died there.
His eyes fluttered shut, like he’d been bracing himself…for me to end it. But when they opened again, they were dark, undone, and sure of exactly what was about to happen.
He leaned in, closing the space inch by inch until his breath mingled with mine. The air between us thickened, humming with something that felt dangerously close to inevitability.
His lips brushed against mine.
It was barely a touch, soft enough to be a mistake, but the world tilted anyway, everything in me tipping toward him. A whimper broke from my throat, quiet and raw, the kind of sound that belonged to someone losing control.
For a dizzy second everything rewired—and my head filled with the ridiculous, crystalline thought:So this is what it’s like.
My first real kiss.
And it was with him.
A tear slid down my cheek before I even realized I was crying.
Matty drew back, just enough to see me, his eyes flicking over my face like he couldn’t quite believe what he was looking at.
He reached up, his thumb tracing the path of the tear, catching it before it fell. For a moment, he just stared at the wet shine on his skin, then back at me…like the sight of it had knocked him off course.
“Please,” I whispered.
Something in him shifted…his softness snapping into hunger. His jaw tightened, pupils blown wide, and then his mouth crashed against mine.
It was fierce and unrestrained, stealing whatever air I had left. The world blurred around the edges, lost to everything but him. I followed his lead instinctively, clumsy at first, then desperate, matching the rhythm he set like I’d been made to find it.
He tasted like something dangerously close tohome. Our mouths fit in a way that shouldn’t have been possible, like all the space I’d been saving inside myself had been carved for this, forhim.
The kiss was all teeth and heat and need, like he’d been starving for it just as much as I had. I kissed him back, chasing the taste of him, my hands sliding under his shirt before I could think better of it.
My fingers met warm, solid skin, his muscles shifting beneath my touch, and for a breathless moment I justfelt. The strength. The reality. I’d imagined this for so long that the truth of it stunned me…the impossible weight of him, alive and here, his heartbeat drumming against my palms like proof that this wasn’t a dream. It was too much.
A moan ripped from his throat, almost pained, like my touch hurt.
His kiss was a brand, his lips demanding, sucking my bottom lip, his teeth grazing just enough to make me gasp. My body arched, pressing against him, feeling the hard length of his cock through his jeans, already straining for me.
“Matty,” I panted, breaking the kiss, but he didn’t stop.
