“Asher giving you a hard time?”
I shrugged and leaned back against the door, not even sure how to answer that question. “I don’t want to talk about Asher right now. I came to say… I mean, I wanted… I was thinking…”
I closed my eyes, searching for the words again.
There was a time in our relationship—not that long ago, actually—when being around Ronan didn’t leave me tongue-tied and stupid. But when I opened my eyes and found his autumn-hazel gaze looking back at me now, those days felt like a million years ago.
Being friends was different. I could be my fumbling, imperfect self and know that Ronan would still be there, looking at me as he always had.
But love? Love made me want to be better. To be perfect. To stoke the embers in his eyes into a red-hot, roaring fire.
Just-friends made me feel safe.
Love was making me feel crazy.
Maybe that was part of the package.
Ronan stepped closer, pressing his hands against the door and boxing me in with his arms. The fire in his eyes had already kindled, and as he swept his gaze down to my mouth, the flames spread straight to my core, heat licking between my thighs.
“I, um… I wanted to apologize about before,” I stammered. “I didn’t mean to bring up that stuff about my past and—”
“Apology accepted.” The fire in his eyes blazed, and he leaned in close, capturing my mouth in a kiss.
Relief mingled with pleasure, and I sighed, parting my lips and welcoming the now-familiar taste of him on my tongue.
Ronan lifted me up and carried me to the bed, crashing down on top of me, kissing every inch of the skin he exposed as he peeled off my pajamas. Moments later he was naked, too, settling between my thighs, exactly where I needed him most.
I closed my eyes and whispered his name, threading my fingers into his silky hair as my body relaxed under the delicious weight of his, and it felt so, so right.
I knew how this would end. It might not happen tomorrow, or in a month, or even in five years. But it would happen. Ronan was my demon guardian; when I died, he’d have no choice but to deliver my soul to the demon who held my contract.
Ronan knew it, too.
But despite our already-scripted end, I could no more have walked away from him than I could’ve stopped the magic bubbling inside me. Both were part of my destiny, however tangled and complicated it may have been.
I suspected Ronan felt the same, and here in his bedroom, tangled up in the sheets as he finally slid inside me, kissing me as if the world were burning, there was no more awkwardness between us. No distance or discomfort. Only love and friendship and connectedness and the warm, familiar touch I’d come to know.
To crave.
After spending the last handful of days apart, neither of us seemed capable of prolonging the exquisite end, and it wasn’t long before I felt my muscles tightening around him, my body so, so close to the edge. Ronan let out a low growl, thrusting harder and faster, the pressure building until we had no choice but to tumble right over that sheer cliff together, spiraling down into pure, white-hot bliss.
Perfection.
After, I lay my head on his chest and closed my eyes, once again finding my home in the strong, steady beat of his heart.
“I hate being away from you,” he whispered into my hair, his arms tightening around me. “Always have.”
“Me, too.” I relaxed into his embrace, letting out a soft sigh. “Did you guys find anything at Norah’s?”
“Nothing that can’t wait until tomorrow,” he said. Then, with a low chuckle, “What about you? I was worried Asher would have some kind of bullshit incubus meltdown just so you’d kiss him again.”
“No meltdowns.” I laughed, rolling my eyes. “Only a nasty bite from a zombie cougar, and yes, I kissed him again, but that’sdefinitelya story for tomorrow.”
“If you keep insisting on collecting boyfriends,” he teased, “we’re going to have to start wearing name tags.”
I sat up at that, pulling the sheet up to cover my bare breasts. “Okay, first of all, Asher isnotmy boyfriend.”
“Mm-hmm.” Ronan tugged the sheet back down, his lips buzzing lightly over my nipple before trailing up to my earlobe. “And Darius? Is he your not-boyfriend, too?”
