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318 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2020
A staredown. She didn't remove her eyes from his, and he didn't remove his from hers, neither willing to look away first.
"Next time, I'm going to see how loud you can scream, Ms. Vitalio. I'm going to make you so sore you won't know if it's from the screaming or the fucking."
He stilled even more, impossibly.
She stilled even more, reflexively.
The air between them stilled, dangerously.
𝓼𝓹𝓸𝓲𝓵𝓮𝓻 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓮 𝓻𝓮𝓿𝓲𝓮𝔀
“Don't you know not to run away from predators, sweetheart? We like the hunt.�
“Never make the mistake of thinking you scare me. It will be your last.�
“Don’t you know not to run away from predators, sweetheart? We like the hunt.�
“I don’t know whether to snap your neck or fuck the life out of you.�
“We’ve been honest so far, Ms. Vitalio,� he murmured. “I’ll be honest now. I despise you but I want you. Fuck it, I do. And I want you out of my system.�
“I don’t want to fix him. I want to fix me. And he’s the only thing that seems to be working.�
“He kissed her � without his tongue, without his hands, without his body. Just his lips � soft, firm, present � on hers.
It was the most beautiful kiss she could have ever dreamed of, the most untainted she’d ever imagined from him, with a softness she’d not thought him capable of. With his intensity, with his blazing eyes, the silent promises had been of devouring.
This wasn’t devouring.
This was savoring.
He was savoring her lips, memorizing her taste, introducing himself to her so much more intimately than he ever had.�
┏✦❘༻DZDZDZDZ༺❘✦━�
┏━✦❘༻𝓹𝓪𝓬� 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝔀𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰༺❘✦━━┓
┏✦❘༻DZDZDZDZDZDZDZDZDZDZ༺❘✦━�
┏━✦❘༻𝓺𝓾𝓸𝓽𝓮� 𝓘 𝓮𝓷𝓳𝓸𝔂𝓮𝓭༺❘✦━━┓
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'Apparently, you're not out of my system, Ms. Vitalio.'
“Don't you know not to run away from predators, sweetheart? We like the hunt."
“In that moment, the man who'd claimed her death had given her a glimpse of life by doing something he probably didn't even realize he'd done.�
“She'd been raised around sharks. And she'd learned not to bleed.�
“Don't you know not to run away from predators, sweetheart? We like the hunt.�
“𝙉� 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙚𝙡𝙨𝙚 𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙮𝙤𝙪, 𝙈𝙨. 𝙑𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙤. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙞𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙚. 𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝, 𝙮𝙤𝙪’𝙧� 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙚.�
“� 𝙙𝙤𝙣’� 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙡𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪. 𝙉𝙤𝙩 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤𝙣’� 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙡𝙚𝙙.�
“𝙃� 𝙛𝙚𝙡𝙩 𝙨𝙤 𝙙𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙡𝙮 𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣’� 𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙢𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡.�
“Tristan Caine: Apparently, you're not out of my system, Ms. Vitalio.�
And he turned his neck, his blue eyes locking with hers.
She could feel eyes on her. His eyes. Hungry eyes.
But she felt those eyes caress every inch of her exposed back, felt her nape prickle in awareness as her body buzzed with sensation, imagining him, sitting somewhere, devouring her with those blue, blue eyes.
But she could feel that stare on her back, zinging across her skin.
And it did puke out a truckload of information at her, mainly IP addresses that did not belong to Tristan Caine, as they'd been framed to look like. Either Tristan Caine happened to be one brilliant Machiavellian
"My mother loved the rain."
A pause.
"I thought you had a mother."
A familiar knot constricted her throat.
"I don't anymore.�
"We've been honest so far, Ms. Vitalio," he murmured. "I'll be honest now. I despise you but I want you. Fuck it, I do. And I want you out of my system.�
"Not as experienced as you wanted me to believe, Ms. Vitalio,�
"Tristan doesn't allow people into his space. Everyone who knows him knows that." Morana blinked, still reeling from questions about the incredibly baffling man.
"Then why did he let me, of all people, stay here?" Why had he insisted that she stay? Why had he growled like that when Dante had been ready to offer her his apartment?
Thunder crackled in the sky, a split of lightening bathing everything in brilliant white before disappearing. Droplets hit the glass in tandem, trying to break it like bullets, trying to reach her but unable to. She sat behind that wall, longing to feel those droplets on herself, longing to let them sear her, but unable to. And wasn't that her life. Longing for things she couldn't reach, things that tried to reach her and came up against a wall. A glass wall. Where she could see everything, know exactly what she was missing, drown in her awareness even as the glass couldn't break. Because just as it did now, breaking the glass meant death.