Page 132 of Monstrous Urges

I take a breath. “Three days.”

His eyes snap to mine.

“What.”

“You were in…bad shape,” I mumble, squeezing his hand. “Some of the wounds they inflicted on you were deep. And we were in the woods for maybe a day, lying in the dirt. There was some infection.”

He looks away. Then he turns back to me. His eyes soften as his hand squeezes mine.

“Why did you help me?”

I shrug. “Job security?”

He grins.

“Also,” I say gently, biting my lip. “I might kind of like you.”

“Funny,” he growls. I gasp when he suddenly rolls on top of me, his hands going to either side of my head as he hovers over me.

“Drazen—”

“I might kind of like you, too.”

“You’re supposed to be resting?—”

“Fuck that,” he growls.

“Your wounds?—”

“I’ve had worse.”

I shiver as something heated throbs in my core. The muscles of one of his arms bulge and ripple as he shifts his weight onto it, lifting the other hand from the bed to cup my cheek.

“Actually, that wasn’t true.”

I frown. “About having had worse?”

“About kind of liking you.”

I wince. “Oh…”

“More like, I might be in love with you.”

Time stops. Everything in my body tenses and goes still, including the breath in my lungs.

“Forget the ‘might’,” he growls. “I love you, Taylor.”

“I—”

His mouth sears to mine, kissing away the pain and the nightmares. Branding the promise and the words on my lips as I moan into his mouth. My back arches, my chest pressing to his as I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him with everything I have.

Drazen groans, his hand sliding into my hair as he kisses my mouth hard enough to bruise. His lips and his teeth nibble and suck their way down my jawline, making me gasp sharply as he nips at my skin.

He moves to my neck, my pulse roaring and a fever exploding through my body as he shoves my tank top up over my breasts.

His lips fasten around a hard, pale pink nipple, and I cry out when his teeth sink into the delicate flesh.

“Drazen…”