Page 116 of Brutal Knight

I watch as Aiden comes up to Rose, kissing her and wrapping his arms around her the same way Connor did to me.

Violet blinks, looking away. There’s something almost like envy on her face, or maybe it’s something else. I can’t really tell.

Whatever the emotion is, it’s gone too quickly for me to be sure, and I don’t dwell on it. I almost wonder if it wasn’t my imagination and the pulsing lights around us. After just a second passes, I can’t see it anymore. Violet is smiling and sitting back in her chair, drink in hand.

Maybe I’m crazy, and anyway, Connor is distracting. The warmth of his body against mine and the way he holds me are driving my mind to other thoughts.

He tugs me out of the chair and turns me in his arms, and I find myself looking up at him, drawn into his eyes the same way I’ve always been.

I used to wonder about what he was thinking. I used to not know. I’d stare into his brown eyes and wonder if the man I knew was real, or if there was something hidden about him the way there’d been something hidden about Dmitri at first.

I don’t think that anymore.

Looking up into his gorgeous eyes, I know exactly what he’s thinking and what kind of man he is. I know I am the most important thing in his life. I know he’s thinking about me, holding me, loving me.

He’s tangled up in me. I couldn’t push him away if I wanted to, and I don’t.

He’s mine, and I am his. In every way—body, mind, and soul.

* * *

Connor

When Willow looks up at me, her eyes are clear. They’re bright with love, a spark of desire winding through their blue-gray depths. It nearly floors me to see the way she looks at me, the depth of the emotions in her gaze.

More than anything, I can’t help thinking how different this is than the dead-eyed, sad way she looked at me all those weeks ago, when I first brought her home.

I brush my hand along her cheek and watch her eyelashes flutter. There’s a pleased haze in her eyes, a smile curling her lips.

I smile to myself and ask, “Have I told you today that I love you?”

She laughs suddenly, brightly. It’s beautiful. It sounds like water bubbling over rocks, clear and musical. Refreshing.

“Yes,” she says, her tone fond. “Several times.”

“Well, I’ll tell you again anyway.” I pull her in, pausing before I kiss her. “I love you.”

I kiss her to seal it, feeling the warmth of her lips beneath mine. There’s nothing in the world that feels better.

Now that I have her, I can’t imagine a world without her. I can’t think of a world where I don’t have Willow, where I’m not able to hold her and kiss her. It would be empty.

We’re lucky. There were so many times we almost lost each other, so many times everything was working against us. There were moments when I thought I’d truly lost her forever.

But we’ve survived those moments, and we still have each other. We’re still here, still in each other’s arms.

That’s all I care about.

I stay by her side as Violet starts to talk again. I know I should go back to my brothers, but I can’t just yet. I’m happy right where I am.

The celebration winds through the night, midnight creeping closer. And although I join the festivities, my gaze keeps moving to Willow, drawn to her like she’s my true North. The pull I feel to her is so strong that it turns me from conversations, draws me back to her moment after moment. The longer we stay at the party, the less I focus on everyone else.

The desire I saw in her eyes when I looked down at her is growing with every passing second. It starts as a small flame flickering in my chest, and it gets hotter every time I see her. It runs through my veins like lava and makes my heart race.

Finally, I pull her against me and lean down, whispering in her ear. “Do you want to get out of here?”

I feel her shiver against me. Goosebumps rise on her skin, beneath my hands.

“Yes,” she murmurs.

---