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She shakes her head at me, disgust contorting her face.
There’s nothing like your own mother hating you. Nothing like your future wife hating you, either.
I am one lucky bastard.
In the bedroom, I rest my head against the headboard. My body is all tingly ever since the pool incident. It felt good for that one moment before I remembered who he was and what it meant.
The knob turns, and Kieran steps inside. I didn’t lock it—it wouldn’t stop him. I shoot to a sitting position as he approaches my bed. His silence is always unnerving.
His finger brushes my cheek, and heat wraps around me. I close my eyes, the intensity in his eyes and my body’s reaction to him dizzying me.
He plucks something from his pocket and flips it open. In a cushion, a princess-cut diamond ring sparkles between us.
I trace my finger over the beautiful ring. “Is this necessary?”
Kieran grabs my hand. I fight to pull it from him, but his grip only tightens.
“Don’t do this.” Not like this. He’s crushing all my girlish fantasies. Sadness fills the crevices of my chest, feeling despondent. “This is not you protecting me, but you wanting to own me.”
“The same thing to me.”
My mouth opens and shuts as he slides the engagement ringon. I stare at it as if my eyes could incinerate it.
“Don’t take it off. You won’t like the consequences.”
He tips my chin up, lowering his face to me. My lips tingle. I hate this attraction, this itch growing every time he’s near me.
He buries his head in my neck and inhales, as if he’s absorbing my very essence, making my breath stutter.
“This is not how I imagined my proposal,” I whisper, and the hurt squeezes my heart. Confused, angry, and also bothered by his power to play my body, I shove him off me. “Get out.”
He leaves. I pace the room, my feet leaving a trail on the carpeted floor. I peel the ring off and throw it on the plush carpet. Ruled by pure rage, I hurry down the stairs. Sweat gathers at my nape. My steps boom in my ears, my nerves on an unprecedented high as I enter the kitchen. I yank on the drawer, grip a knife, and tiptoe back to his bedroom.
Kieran’s on his back, chest rising and falling, asleep. His chest is bare. Just a sheet covers his lower body. He’s breathtaking and it takes enormous willpower to clear my head and focus on the task I came here for.
This is not you, Aurora.
Still, I inch to his side. For a few seconds, I let my little girl crush on him have its moment. But she was naïve. This me knows that if I don’t fight him, I will lose not only my freedom, but also myself, in him. It would be so easy to let myself go. I press the blade to his neck and his eyes shoot open. My knees weaken at the assault of his eyes––blue dipped in green.
“Do it.” His deep, husky voice echoes in the eerie silent room.
Too busy being swallowed by the dare in his eyes, the blade pricks his skin and a few droplets of blood roll down his neck. My hand trembles and he slaps the knife away.
“That was stupid,” he says, gripping my waist.
I yelp, but end up straddling him. My adrenaline crashes, and guilt squeezes the air from my lungs.
His other hand snakes around the back of my neck, dragging my face to him. I steady myself with my hands on his chest, his heart slamming a beat just as frantic as mine.
His lips press onto mine, plunging his tongue into my mouth, groaning when mine meets his. Are kisses supposed to burn you and soothe you, make you soar but tether you on the edge of the abyss? He bites into my bottom lip, then sucks to ease the sting.
This is not a kiss, it’s a declaration of war and a conquest.
He trails his lips down my chin, licking down my neck and nibbling the sensitive skin. I arch up, desire uncurling in my lower belly. Wanting his mouth on me again, I cup his face while his hands move to grip my ass. Our eyes lock, an ocean and a storm colliding, and then our mouths seek each other’s. Again. We’re incapable of escaping the fervent pull. I let go, diving into the floating sensations. His lips move against mine in a passionate, sultry dance, leaving me breathless.
When the kiss ends, I know I will never be the same. Kieran presses his forehead to mine, both of us panting. His hand strokes my back, and he pulls me down with him, wrapping his arm around my waist. No escape, just madness. Tonight, I choose to dive into it freely.
The next morning, I wake up in his bed and caress my swollen lips.
