Ronan's mouth closed over mine, cutting me off with a kiss that I felt all the way to my toes. There was more—so much more he wasn’t telling me. Everything in me wanted to resist, wanted to turn my back on him and our friendship and everything I ever felt about him.
But no matter how upset I was, no matter how deceived I’d felt, his kiss told me more than his words ever could.
His kiss was a promise, and Ronan never made a promise he couldn't keep.
“You… you’re everything to me,” he breathed. “It never should’ve happened, but I’m just… I’m completely unraveling over you, and I don’t want to stop.”
“I don’t want you to stop, either.” I snaked my arms around his neck and pulled him close, closer, closer still. His tongue slid between my lips, devouring me with every stroke.
I was done waiting with bated breath, done with our to-be-continueds. I trailed my hands down the front of his chest, over the firm ridges of his abs, hooking my fingers into the waistband of his pants. I fumbled with his belt buckle, and he grabbed my pants, both of us yanking and tugging off clothes until we were finally free of all the layers that separated us.
I stood against the wall in front of him, naked and hot, my nipples hardening as he swept his gaze over me, drinking me in.
“You take my breath away,” he whispered. He waited only a beat before kissed me again, grabbing the backs of my thighs and lifting me up, guiding my legs around his hips. Ronan backed me up against the wall, the hot, velvet length of him pressing eagerly against my center.
I felt him hesitate.
“It’s okay,” I said. “I can’t get pregnant by anyone but a regular old human.” Calla had drilled all those lessons into me from a young age. And like all supernatural creatures, demons couldn’t catch or spread any human sicknesses, so that wasn’t going to be an issue either. “We don’t need a condom.”
Ronan kissed my shoulder, a smile curving his lips. “I know how it works, Gray. I just…” His expression turned serious again. “I need to know you’re okay with this.”
“I’m more than okay with this.” I arched against him, my core slippery with need. “Can’t you feel how much I want this?”
Ronan let out a soft groan, his eyes closing in sheer pleasure as he finally sank into me, so deep and delicious it made me tremble.
“Ronan,” I breathed, digging my fingers into his powerful shoulders as he rolled his hips, finding our perfect rhythm. The wall was cold and hard against my back, but everywhere our bodies touched, my skin burned for him, for this man, for this demon I loved with everything I had.
What we had… Ithadto be real. It had to be true.
Tears stung my eyes, and I pressed my mouth to his, kissing him fiercely. It was the kind of kiss to remember me by, the kind of kiss he’d look back on in a hundred years—two hundred, three—and still feel. Still want. Still dream about.
With one hand tight around my back, Ronan slid his other hand between us, fingers stroking my clit, setting off a chain reaction that started with his touch and radiated throughout my core. I wouldn’t last much longer, but no matter how hard I tried to prolong the inevitable, he felt too good, too perfect.
Seconds later I felt my body clench around him, and he growled, low and primal, burying himself inside me with a final perfect thrust as he came.
All the magic, all the darkness and the light, and I’d never felt so powerful as I did right now, making this demon—mydemon—lose control.
The desperate sounds he made sent me over the edge, and I came with a shuddering cry that left my throat raw, my legs trembling. Ronan held me up through it all, his mouth blazing a trail of hot kisses down my throat, and when I finally stopped shaking and the heat of my orgasm finally receded and I opened my eyes, Ronan was watching me with a look that can only be described as pure devotion.
“What?” I smiled, feeling a little shy at the intensity of that look.
“There is nothing I wouldn’t do for you,” he whispered.
And no matter how many secrets he’d kept, no matter how many he was still keeping, I believed him.
Forty-One
Gray
We slept through the rest of the morning. Made love through the afternoon. Stopped only long enough to warm up some of Haley’s stuffed shells, then got back in bed.
By the time I stirred again, my room was dark, rain pattering lightly against the windowpanes.
I opened my eyes fully and turned toward Ronan.
He was already awake, head propped up on his hand, his eyes tracing the contours of my face.
Something had shifted. I saw it in his eyes—a subtle change from devotion and wonder to regret.
