“I know what you came here for, Moonbeam. I’m the one who dangled the bait.”
Her cheeks redden, like she’s embarrassed at being so predictable. Little does she know, being desired by her is the greatest compliment I’ll ever receive.
“Though you hide it well, your heart is boundless. And your love has the power to shape worlds. But not if you keep finding ways to run from the things that make youfeel.”
Her eyes flare. “Fuck you.”
“Any time. Any place. Any lifetime.” I crack a half smile. “So long as you’re not fucking me as a means of saying goodbye, I’m yours to defile as you see fit.”
A deeper flush stains her cheeks, and her bottom lip tucks between her teeth. An innocent taunt that wreaks havoc on my self-control.
“So what’s it to be?” Her chin lifts to meet the challenge in my voice, like she suspects my next words before I loosen them. “Are you staying, or are you going tobow outfrom this fight?”
“I’m not going anywhere,”she pledges with such gusto I trust her intent. Four words that sew a stitch through the rip that’s been plaguing my heart since I returned to Dhomm to find her gone. To find my málmr on my pillow—discarded.
Unwanted.
“It’ll hurt.” I prowl through the steaming water. “Are you sure you’re strong enough?”
Her brows pinch, eyes narrowed with stark offense.
She puffs her chest as I move into her atmosphere. A silent challenge that heats my blood. “I hate you sometimes.”
No you don’t, Moonbeam.
“And I love youeverymoment.”
Her breath hitches.
Another crack in her defenses.
I thread my hand around the back of her head, tilting her until my lips graze her temple. Just firm enough I’m able to feel the flutter of her pulse—my next words a whispered secret. “Even when it hurts.”
She stiffens.
I step so close that every breath is a battle for the limited space between us. “Even when you’re throwing barbs, or using me todistractfrom the shit you’re hiding from—”
She snatches my wrist so fast I don’t register the motion until she’s pulled back, looking up at me through crisp eyes. Such a bold, beautiful blue that it’s an effort not to fall to my knees.
“Incorrect,” she seethes.
“Elaborate.”
“You’re not adistraction.”
The chill moving up my spine tells me Líri’s attention just lifted from her meal and is now—very intently—dragging across my back. Assessing the situation.
I arch a brow, heart thundering. “Then what am I, Moonbeam?”
Her lips peel from her teeth, making way for a single snarled word that explodes the aching organ in my chest.
“Mine.”
Kaan releases a deep thundery sound that makes me picture boulders tumbling down a mountainside. Makes me want to pack myself so full of him there’s no room foranythingelse.
No pain.
No loss.
