Her aura flickers behind me, her emotions completely at odds with themselves, as if they are battling, just like mine.
As if she could possibly be in as much in turmoil as I am. I ignore my own ridiculous feelings and focus on her own.
She’s ... nervous. She’s ... thrilled.
More than anything, she’s shocked.
Shocked?Is she surprised that I chose her? I frown, not even remembering any of the other faces in that room.
She has to know what she looks like. She’s perfect. It’s just a fact. Yes. Factual.Logical. This ... this is clearly some momentary reaction to her appearance. Nothing more. Nothing meaningful.
We both know what we’re here for. This is my duty, but ... perhaps I could enjoy this. It wouldn’t be a crime to have a few moments of forgetting everything. Of working this stress out of my system.
I’ll be using her. She doesn’t matter.
I always take women to another room; the idea of them touching my things repulses me. But for some reason, this time I turn in the hall. I open my own door, surprised by my own actions.
It’s a curiosity, I assure myself.Nothing more.
The moment she’s inside of my room, the moment she’s within these walls where I have never taken another woman, an avalanche of want rocks me. Of possessiveness. Over a woman I don’t even know.
Something in my blood—unfamiliar, confounding—sharpens at her proximity. My feelings claw through my chest like a beast that’s been caged for centuries.
Reason has left.
All that remains is her. And me.
When the door clicks closed behind her, I can’t help it. I’m like a rabid animal. I’m on her in a moment, pressing her against the wall, and—
I wait. I wait, because I want to see her this close, I want to see if she could possibly want me even a fraction of how much I want her right now.
Usually, I have to feel around for emotions, work for them, but hers are searing through my skin. My hands curl around her bare arms, andherskin—her skin is warm, and soft.So soft. She’s so beautiful it hurts to look at her.
I have officially lost my mind.
Especially when her own emotions deepen, as she looks up at me, with searing green. And when those new feelings hit me—
I can’t just feel them.
I cantaste them.
I can taste how much she wants this, and it’s nearly enough to bring me to my knees.
But I need to hear her say it.
“Is this okay?” I say, my body shaking with restraint.
“Yes,” she breathes in a voice carved from my darkest dreams, and the word is a key, unlocking a vault of feeling. Unleashing everything.
No sooner than the word is out of her mouth, my lips are on hers.
I’ve never kissed anyone. It always seemed useless. Disgusting, really. Too sentimental.
The second I taste her I know there’s no forgetting her. No. She is like a curse—impossible to get rid of.
She is a curse I never want to break.
I press her hand against the wall, thumb thrumming across her palm, and I feel her shiver beneath me.
