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“No trick, Lyra,” he whispered. His lips were moving closer, taunting me with every word. “Not this time.”
Alek’s scorching lips found mine in the darkness of the underground. I pulled him closer, reveling in the encapsulating warmth of his body. He kissed me slowly, taking his time as he held me gently in his arms.
And I kissed him back. Nobody was around to watch us. Nobody would know. For the first time, this felt real.
Alek wasn’t kissing me as a project or as a secret. He was kissing me forme. He kissed me because he wanted to.
Alek deepened the kiss with ease, sweeping his tongue across my lower lip. I let him guide me, showing me exactly what to do. Heat crawled up my body while chills erupted down my arms. Alek’s touch was addicting, intoxicating.
I never wanted it to end.
Something between us shifted. Those gentle, taunting kisses grew deeper. I slid my hands up Alek’s back as he pulled me flush against his body. His hands lowered, and he gripped the back of my jeans with one hand while he moaned into my mouth.
If it weren’t for him holding me up, I would have melted.
Every part of my body burned with desire for him, for more of this. I had wanted this for so long, and we were finally alone. Finally doing what we should have been doing all along.
He kissed me in the darkness until we were both out of breath. I pulled away, barely enough to break our embrace.
“What was that for?” I breathed.
I felt his chest rise and fall, matching mine. Alek shrugged. “I wanted to see what kissing you felt like when you weren’t acting,” he said.
My heart twisted into a million pieces. I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t feel this way about him. Because as real as that kiss was, as real as Alek was standing here in my arms, this couldn’t happen.
I wasn’t free. This wasn’t real. My brain knew that, but my heart refused to accept it.
“And?” I pushed.
“And you drive me fucking insane, Lyra.”
I didn’t ask him to clarify. I didn’t say anything else as he led us back through the tunnels, toward the entrance of the catacombs.
We spent the next two hours walking through the streets of Paris. I was utterly shocked at the beauty of it all, but the best part was the fact that Alek didn’t let go of my hand. Not once.
He didn’t kiss me again. Not as he took me to stand beneath the Eiffel Tower, and not as we boarded the private plane back home.
But the last thing I pictured before I fell asleep that night were his lips on mine.
ChapterThirty
Three days later, I left through the front door of my apartment for the first time in what felt like months. I could hear the buzz of the security camera tracking my movements as I walked.
I pictured my mother getting the movement alert on her phone and wondering where I was going. If I was lucky, she wouldn’t check. Wouldn’t ask.
My tennis shoes on the pavement became the only thing I focused on. I tried to clear my mind of all the shit that had happened over the last few weeks. I had come so close to death on more than one occasion, yet somehow, I had lived more than ever in my life.
I didn’t have a plan.
After Paris, I was certain that what Alek felt for me was more than just a deal. I couldn’t get him out of my mind. The entire trip was anything but casual,and that kiss.
I had been reliving the way he held me, the way he touched me.
It had been three days. Three days, and no word from Alek. I had texted him a couple of times but got nothing back.
I fought that numbing feeling in the pit of my stomach that told me something was wrong.
Before I could comprehend whether or not it was a good idea, I turned around and headed for Night Raven.
