?My body moves before my mind can communicate what I want it to do. A type of instinct, my soul knowing what I need to do before I can process it.
?I pull her mask off first. The crafted barrier disappearing so I can look at her face. The red of her eyes darker than my own, and hers with a thin ring of black and silver on the edge of her iris. Then I pull her down and settle us on the floor of the dance floor.
?Varian had ripped part of her dress when he had used his fingers to touch her, feel her, pleasure her. Though with the overlapping panels of fabric you wouldn’t be able to tell, except it works to my advantage because I push everything behind her so she can sit in my lap without all the bulk.
?Not to touch her – even though Icouldtouch her, and it’s whispered in the back of my mind as her hot, wet center sits right over my straining dick – but to hold her. To pull her into my chest and wrap my arms around her because she thinks we deserve better? ThatIdeserve better?
?There isn’t a world or lifetime in existence where she would not be worthy.Morethan worthy.
?Except she somehow thinks she doesn’t deserve us because her head buries into my chest and her hands cling to the lapels of my jacket and a sound comes out of her throat that makes my soul ache.
?Her head starts shaking again as she chokes out, “How fucking pathetic.”
?My fingers thread through her hair from her nape and tighten. I pull her head from my chest and force her to look at me.
?Tears stream down her face and instead of meeting red I’m met with the palest shade of pink I’ve seen on her. Her lashes clumped together from her tears but she meets my stare.
?“You are not pathetic,” I ground. I imbue as much truth and strength as I can into my words to make her believe them.
?I take my other hand and cup her cheek. Running my thumb under her eye, catching the new wave of tears.
?“You don’t understand,” she whispers. She gives me the same look she did when she told me this isn’t a choice. “You will never be happy with me. You will never be able to – “
?Her words freeze and something within her eyes flinches. I swipe my thumb across her cheekbone, waiting for her to finish or explain. I’ll wait for anything, so long as she doesn’t shut me out any more than she already does.
?“You’re touching my face,” she breathes.
?My fingers flex where they’re cupping her jaw and cheek. Pieces start clicking together when I shift my hand and trace my thumb over her lips. The same lips that had kissed Varian and she flinched back as if in pain.
?Callahan’s question earlier tonight, him telling Varian before to not touch her, Darian saying to make her fight with her skin exposed. . .
?Everything revolving around physical – skin on skin it seems – contact.
?She’d been cursed through runes to burn from the sun, but she had said that devil would make her burn for all of eternity. It always seemed like there was a deeper meaning to her words.
?“Why does it matter?” I breathe back.
?I have an idea. Darian has been having some format of sex with her, but it has to be more than just some type of exposure therapy for her. He said to make her fight with her arms and legs exposed to help her because he has a theory about what he’s doing now no longer working.
?One of her hands lifts and traces over my hand on her cheek. “It doesn’t burn.”
?I inch my face closer to hers. Line our eyes and slowly tilt her head. My lips whisper over hers as I mouth, “Why would it burn?”
?“I’m supposed to burn for all of eternity.”
?Her eyes deepen in shade as I rest my forehead against hers. “Then let me burn with you.”
?Tears build along her waterline and for a moment I think I can see past just the color of her eyes. A flicker of a shadow that wavers.
?“I am not a god.” That’s the second time she’s said that. “You shouldn’t speak like that. I am nothing.”
?I tighten my fingers still threaded through her hair in warning. “You. Are. Not. Nothing. You are mine.”
?Her eyes shutter before they close and those tears along her waterline spill over. “You only say that because you don’t have a choice.”
?Do you know what it feels like to never have a choice? This is the closest you will ever feel to knowing what it feels like. Because this is not a choice.
?She doesn’t understand.
