Page 155 of Monsters Wear Crowns
I swallowed my response as my pulse kicked up.
“You think I don’t feel it, too?” His voice was low and rough. “This…pull between us?”
“That didn’t stop you from hurting me.”
The words were a slap. I saw how pain flickered and cracked behind his eyes. But he didn’t back away.
I shook my head, stepping back. “I knew I shouldn’t have come here. I don’t know why I did.”
“Adela–”
“No,” I cut him off, my voice shaking. “I can’t…I can’t do this right now.” But when I turned, his hand caught my wrist, hard enough that I felt his pulse against my skin. I was a little surprised tofind it fast and unsteady.
“I don’t know how to stop wanting you,” he said, his voice barely more than a whisper.
My heart cracked wide open.
“Let me go,” I said, and I hated how weak it sounded. How much of me didn’t mean it.
For a long moment, he didn’t move. But then his fingers slipped away, and the loss of his touch left me cold. My legs moved, propelling me away from him.
“I love you, Dela.”
I inhaled a sharp breath at the confession. His voice was raw, stripped bare in a way I’d never heard, and itshatteredme. I hated how much it did. Because Iwantedto believe him. Because no matter what he’d done, I still loved him. I still ached for him. But beneath that love, beneath the sharp, burning need, there was fear.
Fear that I’d become my mother.
Another Sinclair woman destroyed by a Vaughan man.
He took a step toward me, and I instinctively backed up. The corner of his mouth curled. Then his eyes flicked behind me. I turned my head just slightly, and that’s when I saw it. The exact spot where he first...touched me. Where he’d stood between my thighs with his fingers delved deep inside me. Where his voice had curled so deliciously around my name.
When I turned back, he was already moving. One second, my feet were on the ground. The next, I was in the air, his hands gripping my thighs as he lifted me onto the cold stone railing. The glass slipped from my fingers, shattering somewhere far below. I didn’t even flinch. I couldn’t.
Not whenhewas touching me, his body pressed into mine like he had every right. Not when his mouth–
He kissed me like it might be the last thing he ever did. It was bruising and raw, full of teeth and pain and need. But buried beneath all of that was...regret.
His hands were shaking. I shoved at him, a weak protestagainst his chest, like that would undo everything between us. But his body was solid and strong. Something inside me cracked when his tongue brushed against mine, and his fingers tangled in my hair like he needed the contact to breathe.
I melted.
“I need you to say it,” he rasped against my lips, voice wrecked. “Say you don’t want me, Adela. Just say it, and I’ll stop. I’ll always stop. I swear to every fucking god I’ve ever cursed.”
But I couldn’t say it because I wanted him more than I wanted air. His hands slid to the hem of my red mini-dress, rough fingers brushing my bare skin, and I gasped into his mouth. The city lights blurred behind him, and the wind tugged at my hair.
But all I could feel washim.
“I hate you,” I whispered, the words catching in my throat like they hurt to say. It sounded more likeplease. Please don’t stop. Please don’t make me love you more.
His eyes flickered, and his voice broke when he said, “I know. I fucking hate me, too.” His mouth moved to my throat, hot breath trailing down my skin. My mind screamed to run, but my heart…
My heart had already forgiven him. It had never stopped loving him. Tears burned behind my eyes, but I bit them back. “This doesn’t fix anything,” I whispered. “It doesn’t undo what you did.”
“I know, baby,” he murmured, his voice frayed at the edges. “Don’t think about tomorrow. Don’t think about what comes next. Just…don’t walk away from me right now. Just give me this. One more night to feel you beneath me. To taste you. Hold you. Fuck you.”
And then he kissed me again, softer this time. It seemed like he was begging. My fingers curled into the fabric of his hoodie, dragging him closer. Desperate. Needy. Already lost. His hands slipped behind my ass, pulling me against him as his kiss grew more desperate. His kiss turned frantic, his pain flowing into me like it might drown us both. I felteverything. Sharp cedar filled mysenses, and I suddenly felt likehome.
“Your body doesn’t lie to me,” he whispered, mouth brushing mine, breath ragged. “No matter what you say… it still knows. You’remine.”
