Page 62 of Realm of the Wicked

‘Like I’m someone who deserves you.’ My dying regret, if I ever died, would be not deserving Stella.

‘Why not?’

My heart was going to break, and if it did, I didn’t think I’d ever be able to put it back together. ‘Because I don’t. And if you make me believe that I do, I can’t be held accountable for my actions.’ I rested my hand on top of hers, the delicate bones shifting beneath me. Would she let me put my hands on her, the way I had that night in the hallway?

I wondered what she tasted like.

Her eyes hardened, a challenge. ‘Maybe I want to see what you’ve been hiding. Did you ever consider that? Maybe you should’ve just shown me all along, instead of this cloak and dagger routine.’

‘You don’t.’ I shook my head, trying to pull away, as much as it pained me to do. She didn’t know what she was asking for. She couldn’t know.

Stella stopped me, her hand moving from my face to my shoulder. ‘Why do you think you know what I need better than I do?’

‘Bambi… you’re freezing from your time in the forest. You’re not exactly the greatest at looking out for your best interest.’

‘Don’t. Don’t compare the two. I want you, Damien. I know what I’m asking. Why won’t you give me this?’ Stella’s voice was soft, hurt, and I hated myself for putting the hurt there in the first place.

‘I’d give you the world if you asked. I’d give you anything you wanted, Stella. Isn’t that enough?’ Her face was close, so close, I could count each freckle dotted across her nose, a piece of art. I wanted nothing more than to hold her in my arms.

There was no going back from something like that.

‘Prove it.’ Stella moved closer, her lips a whisper away from my own.

I grabbed her chin between my finger and thumb, holding her close, yet not close enough. ‘Do you know what you’re doing?’

‘Yes.’ She smirked. ‘I’m kissing you.’

Electricity shot through me, every cell in my body alive with the knowledge that this perfect specimen wanted me. ‘You’re damning us both.’

Stella cocked her head to the side, not moving any further away. ‘Do you care?’

Fuck, she looked kissable. I wanted to press my lips to hers, consume her air as if it were my own, and leave her under no question who she belonged to. ‘No, and that’s the problem. Haven’t you figured that out yet? I’m a selfish man, Bambi. I’ll choose damnation every fucking time if it means I get you.’

I let go of her chin, rolling on top of her, keeping my weight off her with my forearms. Some primal instinct deep inside me, something I’d long forgotten about, relished the way her eyes widened, and she sucked in the smallest of breaths.

I lowered my lips to hers, resting them against her. I had to make sure she was certain. There would be no going back from a decision like this.

She’d be mine.

I’d always been hers.

‘Tell me to stop, Stella. Please. Tell me to stop. Tell me you hate me. Anything.’ A threat. A warning. A blessing. I didn’t know. I didn’t care.

When I looked in her eyes, I only saw acceptance. ‘I can’t.’

I broke, kissing her deeply with an unholy groan.

Kissing Stella was everything I dreamed of, and everything I never expected. Her lips were soft, gentle against my own, meeting me with her own desire. She was sweet, like the strawberries of the deepest red.

She was absolutely intoxicating.

She was mine.

‘Stella,’ I whispered, pulling back to kiss her again and again. ‘Stella. Stella. Stella. You are perfection.’

I darted my tongue out, licking along the seams of her lips, and with a breath, she opened up to me. I could’ve spent a lifetime exploring her.

Maybe I could’ve.