Page 54 of Desperate Crimes

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And that’s when I know.

The way he breathes.

The way he touches.

The way his voice wraps around my name like it belongs to him.

“You were always mine, Leanna.”

My heart stutters.

My lips part.

Nico.

My eyes fly open, and though it’s still dark, I see him.

The outline. The shadow. The man.

Nico Jr.

Him.

The one I used to catch staring across holiday dinners.

The one who never spoke more than a few words to me.

The one who always lingered in the corners of my life.

My obsession.

My phantom.

My—wait a second.

“Oh my God,” I breathe, thighs trembling around his wrist. “It’s you.”

A beat of silence.

Then he whispers against my neck.

“Say it.”

I swallow.

“It can’t be.”

“Say it, Princess.”

I gasp.

Disbelief is warring with ecstasy inside of me as he teases my sex, making me desperate and so damn needy, I swear I could hit him.

Or beg.

“It is you, isn’t it?”

I whimper.

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