Page 150 of Sweet Venom

I laughed, unable to stop the grin that took over my face as he shifted me onto his back with ease. “Azariel, you don’t have to?—”

A piggyback ride

The big, brooding, tattooed grump was giving me a piggyback ride.

I made a mental note: this was definitely going into the book.

Oh, it was happening.

Everything sweet gesture and dirty act he’s done will make it to the final draft.

“Hold on tight, precious cargo.”

I giggled. Oh, no.

What has this man turned me into?

“You know, little prince…”

“Yeah, little fox?”

“You’re the sweetest not-so-heartless dark prince I’ve ever met…”

He laughed. Like, full-on laughed. “Now you’re just saying shit.”

I wasn’t.

I really, really wasn’t.

I didn’t say that out loud, though.

Instead, I wrapped my arms around his neck and rested my head against his broad shoulders. Let me show him.

And I did—just by being there, holding onto him as he carried me through the park he built for me.

I could hear the sound of his steady breathing, feel the rhythmic thud of his footsteps as he moved along the winding paths. There was something so simple, so perfect, about being held by him in the world he’d created out of…love.

It felt meant to be.

Written in the stars in my eyes, and the scars across his heart.

I couldn’t help but smile.

My once doubtful heart was now completely full.

Full ofhim.

Night fell quicklywhen you were having the time of your life with the man who had a tight chokehold on your heart. Time with Azariel was strange like that— sometimes it flew, other times it felt like the world slowed down just for us. It was magic. Pure, wild-dark-arts-level magic.

There’s honestly no other way to explain it.

It had to be magic. Or a love curse.

Because it’s the only reasonable explanation for why the love bug had chewed through half my neurons and left me acting completely lovesick.

I’ve always known loving Azariel turned me into a full-blown love fool. But at this point? I was the CEO of the Azariel Fan Club alongside Mom… and proudly so.

The man deserved that and more.

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