Page 120 of A Promise so Bold and Broken

A wall stopped her retreat, the force of her back slamming into it wrenching a gasp from her lips.

You’re not there,she tried to tell herself when she managed to draw some air back into her lungs.You’re not there.

But the shriek of metal only came closer.

A bone-chilling laugh echoed in her ears, and she couldn’t hold back a scream as the memories of what would soon follow flooded her mind.

The pain of knives cutting through flesh.

The air she’d have no access to.

The memories they’d make her relive.

“Merrick, you need to do something.”

Lessia flinched at the gravelly voice, and she started begging despite the promise she’d made to herself not to let Rioner’s guards get to her anymore. “Please, I’ll do anything… Please, j-just don’t do this!”

“Merrick, she’s panicking.”

“I know! Fuck!” The curse brushed her ear, and she braced herself when the screeching quieted, the fabric over her eyes dampening as tears spilled from her eyes.

Then soft lips pressed against hers, a gentle voice breathing words into her mouth. “I need you to focus on me. Nothing else.”

Her body reacted before her mind, her lips parting to let the hot air in—let the person before her help her struggling lungs.

It was like the sun peeking through a thick cloud bank.

Her heart leaped before its beats slowed, becoming more even.

“Good,” the person rasped. “Only you and me.”

When Lessia nodded, the pressure of the kiss deepened, and she couldn’t help but return it, a feverish urge blooming across her face when a groan slipped through the lips playing with hers.

A gentle sweep of a tongue brushed her bottom lip, and it was all she needed to crush her lips harder against the others, fusing their mouths together, letting their tongues dance and tangle and play within the kiss.

“I need you,” she whimpered.

“I know,” he said as he nipped at her bottom lip, just enough to break through the mess that was her mind but not break the magic that seemed to wash away the sense of dread within her.

Of course he knew.

He always knew.

“Merrick,” she whispered.

The voice she heard hadn’t been Rioner’s guards.

It had been Merrick.

Merrick’s friends.

“I’m here,” he whispered right back. “I’m always here.”

Air continued to travel into her lungs, and with each breath, her mind cleared, but she couldn’t stop herself from intensifying the kiss, her lips clinging to his as if every second could be the last.

And he gave her as much—if not more—back.

A tingle of delight shot up her spine when he growled against her mouth, and lust sliced through her like the pain had done before.

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