“Not like this. I lived a comfortable lifestyle.”
“Control isn’t always cages and shackles. It can be silent. Sometimes near invisible. No one sees it or hears it, but the hand on your neck is still there.”
“I helped him!” Blaine raises his voice. “I didn’t know about it, but I still helped. I protected him. Thefamily business. He hurt people just like he hurt my mother… all while I kept his assets safe.”
Twisting on the floor is difficult, but I wrangle my exhausted limbs enough to face him. Blaine’s eyes dart away until I catch his stubble-smattered cheeks in my hands, forcing him to look at me.
“It isn’t your fault, Blaine Madden. You’re a crook, a criminal, and quite frankly, a psychopath at the best of times, but you are not a bad person. I won’t hear it.”
“Sweetheart—”
“No. If you want to help us catch these monsters, then do it for the right reasons. Not to punish yourself for the sins of your father.”
“I need to make it right,” he insists.
“Why?” I stare deep into his irises.
“Because… Fuck, Ember.” He halts to drag in a breath. “I want forgiveness, alright?”
Behind bruised skin and battered ribs, my aching heart cracks clean down the middle. A sheer fracture that sweeps me into an avalanche. This is the person no one else sees. The human behind the criminal mastermind.
He’s punishing himself.
Blaine just wants the world’s forgiveness.
“Then I’ll help you find it, but not because you need it.” I rest my forehead on his, needing to feel him close. “Please hear me, Blaine. You’re already forgiven.”
Darkness swirls in his gaze. Powerful. Intense. A violent promise tainted by the most innocent and childlike of needs. We all want to cleanse ourselves of our parents’ sins one way or another. Despite how destructive that quest might be.
No matter what Hyland says, I refuse to believe that Blaine is all bad. He may disregard the law like it only applies to mere mortals and won’t ever touch him, but I don’t care. I don’t want or need a law-abiding wallflower.
I want a monster.
A powerful force of nature.
The mutual understanding that passes between us feels electric. A magnetic force lassoing us both in the same knot, drawing our bodies together. Common sense nor reason can stop me from leaning into his orbit.
Heat pulses between my legs when his tongue darts out to wet his bottom lip. The air grows thin as Blaine wraps me in a fragrant bergamot haze, and one hand lowers to clasp my thigh.
“What are you doing to me?” he murmurs throatily.
“Nothing.”
“Don’t play dumb. Three men are vying for your affections. Is that not enough for you?”
Lie. Run. Do anything.
“No,” I confess instead.
“Good. Then I don’t need to apologise for this.”
His mouth ensnares mine, hot and heady. Lips smack, and his piercing adds to the overwhelming sensations the kiss unravels. Blaine’s other hand cups the back of my head, tilting my neck so he can ravage my mouth with the ferocity of his hard kiss.
He swallows my gasp, tongue sliding past my lips to launch an invasion. The faint taste of coffee mixes with a fresh spearmint hit, drugging my senses. I place a hand on his bicep, fingers curling around soft cotton, needing something to hold me steady.
Blaine Madden, notorious mobster and heir to a prolific criminal dynasty, is kissing the motherfucking life out of me. And hell if it doesn’t feel good to surrender what’s left of my soul to this monster.
Fingertips move against my skull, easing knots and aches from the attack that drew him to me like a moth to a flame. The feel of his attacking lips shoves out any remaining doubt or fear. All that matters is every last place his skin touches mine.
