Page 86 of Healed

The way his hands had trembled despite trying so desperately to appear in control.

The way he’d kissed my fingers and almost shuddered with delight.

Heat crept into my cheeks, and I pressed the heels of my hands against them with a groan.

“Oh, for God’s sake.”

I was behaving like a bloody teenager.

I’d spent ten years surviving Nico. I’d lied to murderers, manipulated violent men, hidden my fear so convincingly that I’d almost started believing my own act, and yet one almost-kiss from Vienna had reduced me to pacing around my bedroom, unable to remember how breathing worked.

I laughed quietly to myself, the sound disappearing almost as quickly as it had come.

He’d called me princess.

Such a stupid little word. One he’d been calling me since we were kids. And somehow tonight it had sounded completely different.

I walked over to the mirror, only then catching sight of myself properly. My hair was a mess, my lips were swollen from where I’d been nervously biting them, and my pupils looked far too wide. I looked exactly like a woman who had almost made a decision she wasn’t ready to make.

“Bloody idiot,” I whispered, though I wasn’t entirely sure whether I meant him or me.

My body felt more alive than it had in years. Every part of it tingled and lit up, burning me from the inside out.

I could still feel his breath on me. The way his body shuddered beneath my touch. Every word he spoke had been both an invitation and a warning. A caress and a plea.

I shivered, a dart of pleasure rushing straight between my legs.

God, how I wanted him.

I knew I shouldn’t. I knew my mind was not in the right place to be making these sorts of decisions. But I also knew how my body felt. How it responded to him—how it had always responded to him.

I’d always known I shouldn’t go near that man. And yet I’d always been powerless to resist.

I stomped into the bathroom, almost ripping the clothes from my body as I did so.

A cold shower was needed.

I’d be able to think much more rationally after a cold shower.

Except, the minute I stepped beneath the icy blast, I was plagued with an image of Vienna picking me up and slamming me against the wall, the water spraying over both of us.

“God,” I half moaned, half groaned.

This was going to be utter torture.

Chapter 25

Gabriella

Then

“Shh,” I giggled against Vienna’s lips, before moaning loudly as his hand slipped between my legs and found my clit.

I came alive under his touch, singing to the tune he made.

“I don’t want to be fucking quiet,” he said, his fingers circling my clit, making my eyes roll into the back of my head. His teeth bit down on my lower lip before sucking it into his mouth and releasing it with a pop. “I want everyone to hear you, princess. I want everyone to know exactly what I’m doing to you.”

God, what did I even say to that?