Page 47 of Demon Daddy's Nanny

He cuts himself off, one hand sliding up to cup my face. His palm burns against my skin, and I can't help but lean into the touch I've craved for so long.

"And Annalise." Pain flashes across his features. "After her mother... after Sera... I couldn't risk hurting her again. Couldn't risk bringing someone else into her life only to-" He swallowshard. "I don't deserve this. Don't deserve you. Not after failing them both."

His wings curl forward, creating a golden cage around us. The feathers tremble with barely contained emotion. This close, I can see every detail of his face - the scar on his cheek, the flecks of darker gold in his eyes, the way his jaw clenches against words fighting to break free.

"But today, when he threatened you—" His thumb traces my cheekbone. "When I learned that you had left the estate—The thought of losing you..." Raw anguish twists his expression. "I can't. Iwon't. Not you too."

The confession hangs between us, heavy with years of unspoken longing. My heart pounds so hard I'm sure he must hear it. All this time, watching him from afar, thinking my feelings were one-sided... and he'd been fighting this just as hard as I had.

I part my lips, but no words come. What can I say in the face of such naked vulnerability from a man who's always been carved from stone?

I lean forward, my hands trembling as I cup his face. The rough stubble beneath my palms grounds me in reality - this isn't another dream, another fantasy. "Then don't."

My whispered words hang in the air between us. His wings shiver, the golden feathers catching the last rays of sunlight streaming through the windows. I force myself to hold still, to not push further. Every instinct screams at me to close the distance, to press my lips to his, to show him exactly how much I want this. But I've learned the hard way that pushing Ridwan only makes him retreat further into himself.

His breath catches, golden eyes searching my face. The scar on his cheek stands stark against his bronze skin, a reminder of all the battles he's fought. But this - this is different. This isn't a fight he can win with strength or strategy.

My thumbs trace his cheekbones, memorizing the sharp angles of his face. If he pulls away now, I want to remember how it feels to touch him like this, just once.

"Eva." My name comes out rough, almost broken. His hands slide from my shoulders to my waist, grip tightening as if he's afraid I'll disappear. The heat of his touch burns through my dress, sending shivers down my spine. “I’m choosing you.”

Time stretches like honey, thick and sweet and endless. Each heartbeat feels like an eternity as I wait for him to make his choice. To take this leap or step back behind his walls forever.

His wings curl closer, the feathers brushing against my arms. The golden cage around us shrinks until all I can see is him - the storm in his eyes, the tension in his jaw, the slight tremor in his hands that betrays his uncertainty.

I hold my breath, hold perfectly still, hold onto hope with everything I have.

His lips crash against mine, and the world dissolves into golden light. One arm sweeps beneath my legs while the other wraps around my waist, lifting me as if I weigh nothing. My fingers slide into his dark waves, anchoring myself as his mouth claims mine with a desperation that steals my breath.

Heat blazes everywhere we touch. His wings cocoon us, blocking out everything but the taste of him, the feel of his heart thundering against my chest. He kisses like a man starved, like he's trying to pour years of longing into a single moment.

I arch into him, matching his intensity. My nails scrape his scalp and he growls against my mouth, the sound vibrating through me. His grip tightens, crushing me closer as his tongue sweeps past my lips.

The kiss deepens, turns savage. There's nothing gentle about the way he devours me, nothing careful in how his teeth catch my bottom lip. This is Ridwan stripped of his rigid control, of the walls he's built so carefully. Raw. Primal. Mine.

His wings shudder as I tug his hair, as I press myself impossibly closer. Every brush of his tongue sends sparks dancing beneath my skin. I taste lightning on his lips, feel thunder in the way his chest heaves against mine.

But more than anything, I feel him giving in.

28

RIDWAN

Ihold Eva in my arms, drowning in her softness, in her sweetness. The weight of her against my chest sparks something primal, and my wings flex and curl around us both. Her fingers trace the scar on my cheek, and for once I don't flinch from the touch.

What a fool I've been. Denying this. Denying her. The walls I built, the distance I kept - meaningless in the face of how right this feels. How perfectly she fits against me.

I deepen the kiss, and she makes a small sound that shoots straight through me. My hands slide down her back, memorizing every curve. She tastes like salvation, like everything I've denied myself.

Sera would want me to be happy. The thought doesn't bring the usual stab of guilt. Instead, it feels like permission - like forgiveness. Eva isn't replacing her. She's her own miracle, human or not. The warmth of her skin under my palms, the way she trembles when I trace her lower lip with my tongue - this is where I belong.

I break the kiss only to trail my lips down her neck. Her pulse flutters beneath my mouth like a captured thing. My teeth graze her skin and she gasps, her fingers digging into my shoulders.

"Ridwan—"

The sound of my name on her lips drives me mad. I walk us backward toward the bed, my wings creating a golden cocoon around us. She's everything—my anchor, my peace, my future. The emptiness inside me fills with each brush of her fingers, each shared breath.

The back of her legs hit the mattress. I lift my head to look at her - flushed cheeks, swollen lips, eyes dark with want. My control slips another notch.

---