Page 122 of Lethal Attraction

Make me feel anything besides the ache in my chest–the hole you’ll leave behind.

He pushes me back, ravaging along my neck as he shoves between my thighs. I moan into his hair, my eyes fluttering shut as I soak him in one last time.

His scent, his feel, his taste.

“Thalia,” he breathes against my pulse.

My hand collars his throat as I press into his arteries. “Shhh. It’s us.”

His hand dips between us with desperation, and then I feel his pulsing cock slide along my panties. He uses a thumb to rip them aside before burying himself to the root, and the stretch takes my breath away.

“Look at me, Thalia,” he commands, his voice strained.

I open my eyes, stunned by the raw devotion in his gaze. The look of a man who thinks he has it all…

“I–”

I rise quickly, slamming my lips to his because I can’t hear it. Whatever he was about to say isn’t meant for me. And if I hear those words leave his lips, it’ll ruin me forever. He’s already done so much damage to my heart…

I’ll forever be Reed’s. Even if he isn’t mine.

I trail kisses along his jaw, my tears falling but never touching him in the dark. Every pass makes pain lance through me, but I keep going because I have to remember what he feels like before I let him go.

My internal muscles begin to clench around him in a warning. My climax is lazy and languid as it begins to spread. I hold on to him, burying my face in his neck as my eyes screw shut, and he shudders over me. His hand cradles the back of my head, and it takes everything in me not to give in–to sob in his arms and tell him exactly what I’ve been planning in the truck with Rowan since we left the neutral point.

Heat is shared between us, and though this is goodbye, I can’t help but think of what could have been for us. I know I won’t sleep tonight. Not when it’s the last time I’ll have my whole world in my arms.

Chapter thirty-six

Reed

Two Days Before War

Dale’s is packed tightly with the bodies of assassins, including Addison’s family, who showed up late last night. All the leaders stand at the head of the crowd, their heads tucked as they strategize and map out the neutral grounds the best they can before everything begins. Alana and Blair stand with Rowan, nodding along as they type furiously.

There’s so much commotion with beers being passed around, people shouting, Addison and her brother talking as her mother lingers next to them with a gentle smile, and Atlas pacing to get back to his wife and newborn.

Yet all I can focus on is Thalia.

She’s been acting strange since yesterday, keeping her distance and lacking her usual lightness. I’ve tried to write it off as nerves, but she only seems eager for this all to be over. I can’t blame her there, but something isn’t right.

I can’t shake it.

“Are your bags packed?” Taryn asks from beside me.

“Mine and Thalia’s,” I say distractedly as I watch my girl’s mannerisms from across the bar.

“Wait, she’s coming with us?” Emma frowns. “That doesn’t seem—” She stops abruptly before blinking. “Um, right. Well, hopefully you and Taryn get placed at the same hospital.”

I shrug. “It’s not like we’ll be staying long, anyway. The fast-paced life of the trauma ER doesn’t really suit me anymore.”

Taryn laughs, but it’s high-pitched. “Same here! Can’t wait…”

Something is definitely going on.

Since yesterday, every conversation around me has felt half a beat off, like everyone got handed a script except me.

Taryn keeps twisting the tab on her beer.