Page 53 of The Devil In Blue
“Still as beautiful as ever.”
“Stop,” I pleaded.
Rune moved toward me, his hand cupping my cheek. Heat flooded my skin and I shivered, not wanting to feel that way. I didn’t want to feel that tug. That strange temptation. I wanted no part of it.
No matter how good it felt…
I closed my eyes and turned my face into his hand, letting my lips skim over his palm. I heard a soft intake of breath when I did that and for some reason, it made that pull even harder to resist. I opened my eyes and looked up at Rune, enveloped in the warmth of his body and the scent of his skin. With his other hand, he took my wrist and raised my palm to his chest.
“I want you to touch me,” he whispered. “What your mind has forgotten, your body has not.”
I should have pulled away, but I didn’t. Even when he released my wrist, I left my hand against his bare chest. Rune stepped in closer until our bodies were nearly pressed together and when he did, I moved my hand down to the hard plain of his stomach, feeling his naked skin under my fingers. His hand slid back, cupping the back of my head. His fingers combed into my hair and he gently tilted my face up, forcing our gazes to meet.
His eyes could melt ice in seconds.
“Something in you recognizes this feeling,” he said. “You may have given up what we had, but no amount of effort can completely kill what we were, Briar.”
“What were we?” I sighed, unable to stop myself.
“In love.”
The word hit me like a brick. It nearly broke the trance, but then Rune dragged me back under when he leaned down toward me, his lips brushing softly against mine. I sucked in a breath, expecting him to be forceful, but he remained gentle, his fingers lightly kneading the back of my head for a moment before he fisted my hair.
“What I wouldn’t give to feel you touch me. To feel you kiss me.” He moved forward, driving me slowly toward the wall. “To feel your nails tearing at the skin of my back again.”
“Stop,” I said weakly, my back hitting the wall.
“You don’t want me to. I can feel your heart skipping with every word I say.”
“You make me nervous.”
“Or do I make you crazy? You feel something when I’m around you. Don’t lie to me. Don’t lie to yourself.”
“I don’t know what I feel. You’re scaring me.”
“Because I feel real.” His palm pressed to my chest where my heart was thrumming wild and out of control. “Because you want me.”
I shook my head, but no words came out. He fisted my hair tighter and tugged, forcing my head back again.
And then his other hand was wrapped around my throat…
He didn’t squeeze, but I felt utterly at his mercy.
“As much as I want you wrapped around my cock and your heart around my finger, a part of me wants to end it all,” he rasped, sucking the heat out of the moment and replacing it with a cold reminder that he was a monster. “To end the thing that has tormented me all these years.”
My brows furrowed and I looked into his darkening eyes with suspense.
“Perhaps you should,” I said flatly. He tilted his head, his eyes flitting rapidly back and forth between mine. “If your wish is to put me out of this world, then doing so would grant us both relief. You, relief from me, and me, relief from this existence.”
He finally squeezed, barely leaving me air to breathe. “Why are you so eager to leave this world? You were so full of life. So eager to make the best of what was given to you.”
“I amnother,” I said, finally finding a tone fitting for the words. “What I am is a shell stripped of everything that makes a person.Stopwishing for more. I amnothing.”
Saying it out loud made me lightheaded, but it was my deepest truth.
He shook his head with denial. “No one is nothing.”
“We are all nothing. I only discovered it sooner than most.”
