Page 50 of Curiosity Killed The Vampire

When we finally broke apart, breathless, the space between us felt charged and delicate. His eyes had dimmed back to molten gold, though a rim of red still lingered.

He exhaled slowly, the sound raw, as though speech might crack the moment. “You don’t know what you’re asking,” he murmured.

My thumb traced his jaw. “Yes,” I said softly. “I do.”

He closed his eyes briefly, bracing himself, but he didn’t pull away.

The room held its breath, the air thick with the scent of old stone, smoke, and the metallic tang of blood. Shadows pooled along the walls, drawn long by the fire’s low burn. Con lay beside me, eyes glowing beneath his lashes, every muscle coiled tight.

“If I touch you,” he said, voice a low growl vibrating through my chest, “I’ll never let you go.”

The words weren’t a threat—they were a confession. Unvarnished. True. My breath hitched, the space between us pulsing with something more dangerous than any weapon.

My heart clenched. Because I knew. If I gave him even an inch, he would take all of me—not out of possession, but devotion. He would hold me the way he fought—with everything he was.

And that was why I couldn’t stop.

“Con,” I whispered, my voice splintering between want and fear. He looked at me as if I were the last surviving miracle in a ruined world.

“You don’t understand,” he said roughly, moving closer. His breath brushed my lips. “If I have you… I’ll never stop.”

The gold in his eyes deepened, swirling like embers behind glass. I felt the internal rupture—his iron control slipping grain by grain. He was terrified. Of losing control. Of losing me.

But I’d already decided.

“I know,” I said, barely audible. “Trust me.”

For a single heartbeat, he hesitated.

Then the restraint snapped.

His hand rose, fingers trembling as they framed my jaw. His touch was roughened by centuries of battle, grounding and real. My breath hitched as his thumb brushed my lower lip—the gentlest touch from a man built of violence. Then his mouth claimed mine.

The kiss wasn’t soft. It was hungry, desperate—the ignition of something that had waited lifetimes. The world dissolved—the war, Valerian, every fragile thread holding our lives together. All that remained was him—solid, unyielding—and the fierce certainty that I would burn for him, even if it consumed me.

When he finally drew back, his forehead pressed to mine, both our breaths unsteady.

“You don’t know what you’ve started,” he murmured.

I smiled through the tremor in my chest. “Then we’ll burn together.”

His lips brushed mine again—slow, reverent—as though one wrong move might break me. I wanted him. God, I wanted him. But last time had ended in chaos, and for weeks afterward, I’d feared the fragile sense of safety I’d found in him would disappear if I gave in again.

But when his mouth traced the seam of mine, that fear dissolved. His tenderness melted every barricade.

His hand slipped beneath my shirt, fingers gliding along my ribs before resting at my waist. Warm. Steady. Patient. He was giving me a choice—to stop him or to pull him closer. And the way he looked at me, eyes dark-gold with danger and devotion, told me everything.

He wanted every piece of me.

My hands slid over his skin, exploring the firm ridges of muscle along his chest. He groaned, low and rough, but kept his pace measured, like a man battling his own hunger. When I pulled my shirt off, he let me, never breaking the kiss.

The sound he made when our skin met made my pulse falter. His chest hair rasped against my bare breasts, and a moan escaped me before I could stop it. Heat rolled through me—sharp, consuming. His gaze locked with mine—blazing blue fire—and I knew this wasn’t fleeting lust.

He unzipped his pants slowly, deliberately, helping me out of my underwear until nothing separated us but breath and want. His body pressed to mine, heavy and solid, his hands sliding down to cup my ass, pulling me close until I felt the proof of his need throbbing against me.

I should have been afraid. I wasn’t.

He touched my chin, thumb gliding over my lower lip. Even that light contact sent a tremor through me.