Page 83 of Untamed

My throat tightens. I’m shaking and I know she can feel it.

She steps closer, if that’s even possible, her body now flush against mine. We’re breathing each other in.

Her fingers slide to my jaw again, her thumb brushing over the corner of my mouth.

I don’t breathe. I don’t blink. I just stand there and let hertouch me. Let her see the parts I’ve never let anyone near.

“Touch me, Ares,” she whispers again, softer this time. “Let me feel what it’s like... to be wanted by you.”

Her words gut me.

Because she has no idea how long I’ve wanted her. How many nights I’ve imagined what it would feel like to have her like this, soft and sure and looking at me like I’m not a monster.

My hand lifts, still shaking, until it finds her waist. I curl my fingers there like she’s something fragile, something sacred, because fuck me she is.

Jordyn leans into the touch like she’s been waiting for it her whole life.

“I’ll ruin you, bambina.” I whisper, voice raw.

“No,” she breathes, eyes locked on mine. “You’ll remember what it feels like tofeel.”

I press my forehead to hers, eyes closed, chest tight.

Her lips hover over mine, close enough that I can taste the quiver in her breath.

“Jordyn,” I whisper, my voice barely holding. “I only possess so much self-control. Especially when it comes to you. So if you don’t want me to kiss you right now… pull away.”

She doesn’t.

She stays right there, lips parted, trembling, so fucking brave.

“Kiss me,” she breathes.

And I almost do. Until I remember her conversation with Bianca. This is not how she envisaged her first kiss to be. “Bambina, no...” I whisper back, wincing. “Not like this...”

“Baciami, Ares.” She whimpers, curling her fingers at my nape. “Per favore.”Fuck.I feel her plea like a blow to the chest. My jaw tenses, and my arms snake around her waist. “I’ve never kissed anyone before,” she admits timidly. “I’ve waited for the right moment… the right person. And it’s you, Ares. I want it to be you. God, I feel like I might die right now if you don’t kiss me.”

A sound escapes me, something raw and broken, somewhere between a groan and a prayer.

And then I give in.

I kiss her

Not like a man taking what he wants. But like a man tasting something holy for the first, and maybe only, time in his life.

I’m aching like I have never before.

The way his breath ghosts over my lips, warm, uneven, and laced with such restraint.

“Jordyn,” he murmurs, voice low and trembling, “I only possess so much self-control. Especially when it comes to you. So if you don’t want me to kiss you right now… pull away.”

But I don’t move…I can’t, because I want this. I wanthimmore than I have ever wanted anything in my life.

“Kiss me,” I whisper.

He stills, like he needs one last thread to hold onto.

“Bambina, no...” he murmurs, his voice cracked and low, like it physically hurts him to say it. “Not like this…”

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