Page 20 of Burn it Down

Her lips twitch. And not in the way I want. She pushes against my chest, not hard, but enough to get my attention. Enough to try and put space between us.

“You left me,” she says, and her voice cuts through me.

I don’t defend myself. Not yet. She needs to get this out, everything she’s been bottling up for the last six months.

She glares at me like she’s daring me to lie, but I don’t say anything. I cup her face in my hands and hold her still, because she doesn’t get to look at me like I’m a stranger. Not when every beat of my heart has been synced to hers since the day we met.

I don’t have time to explain everything to her right now, but I will. “I’m never going to be apart from you again,” I say. “Not for anything.”

“I was going to kill him myself,” she says, voice low, like maybe she hasn’t ever said that out loud.

My jaw flexes and I shake my head slowly. “You shouldn’t have had to worry about him or anyone.”

I brush my fingers across her cheek, then cup the back of her neck. She stiffens beneath my hand, but I’m quick to move my hand to grip her chin. I tilt her face to mine, forcing her to meet my eyes. “Look at me.”

She does.

“I’m sorry you had to see all that back there. I could not handle knowing he was alive and walking around thinking it was okay to put his hands on you.”

Her expression falters. Her eyes glisten, not quite tears, but close. “He never got the chance.”

My chest tightens at the admission, even though I already know the asshole had an agreement to wait until the wedding night when the ink was dry on the contract. “I would’ve tortured him for centuries if he had.”

Lakynn reaches up, almost without thinking, and adjusts my baseball hat the same way she used to before things got all fucked up. Before I left town.

Then she realizes what she’s doing and tries to pull back.

I catch her wrist.

“Please,” I whisper, breathing hard. “Don’t pull away from me.”

I press her palm to my cheek, holding it there like it’s my only salvation. Because it really, truly is. I close my eyes and lean into her hand.

She doesn’t pull away this time.

Her fingers stroke my skin, gentle, reverent.

“I’ve missed you so much it makes my bones ache,” I murmur.

I kiss her palm. Then the inside of her wrist.

She starts to scoot forward, but I grab her hips and hold her in place. I don’t know if she’s trying to move closer to me or trying to get away. I need her right where I have her. I can’t lose control and rush this. It wouldn’t be fair to her. Nothing has been fair to her, and I’m determined to make that right.

“We need to go,” I say, keeping my voice gentle. “There are things I need to take care of before we disappear.”

Her eyes flick to mine. Cautious. But she’s wary. “Disappear?”

I nod. “Once I’m done, we’re gone. You and me.”

She blinks. “Where?”

I lean in, brushing her hair off her cheek. My thumb stays at her jaw.

“Somewhere safe,” I promise. “Where you’ll never have to worry. No one will ever touch you again.” Caiden Grey has helped me arrange everything, and I’ll owe him big, but it’s worth it. My girl is worth everything in the damn world.

She swallows hard. The tension between us shifts into something even heavier now. I can feel it humming beneath her skin, just like it does mine. She looks at my mouth. I see it. I feel it. She wants me the way I want her.

But I don’t kiss her.

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