Page 18 of Fate of the Fallen
Defiance rose within me and I couldn’t fight the urge to push—to push him to the edge where he’d have to say more, would have to say the words I didn’t have the courage to admit myself.
“Your duty? And nothing else?”
He stood in silence a moment before turning to face me as he replied. “What more would you like to hear, Evangeline?”
“The truth.” My swift response rendered him speechless.
Heavy steps echoed against the stone walls and high ceiling when he came closer, his gaze never leaving me when he spoke.
“There’s nothing more to say. Nothing you don’t already know if you’re honest with yourself,” he accused.
We were so close now. Close enough that heat from his skin danced over my own.
“I’m in love with you,” he blurted, no sign of fear or waning confidence in sight as he said more. “I’vealwaysloved you.”
A breath hitched in my throat as his advancing steps caused me to take several back into the room I’d been coaxed out of by desperation.
Desperation to stop him from leaving.
Desperation to hear him say these very words.
That breath I held breezed over my lips when large hands took my waist, making it impossible to escape him.
“So, forgive me,” he repeated. “Forgive me for falling in love and not being able to stand the sight of you with another man.”
Hearing him speak his truth, like a man with nothing to lose, I knew that was exactly how he felt. He had nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Me.
My heart—something I was certain he had long before I willingly admitted it.
Without a second thought, I allowed him to enter the room, knowing what he’d expect if I latched the heavy, wooden door behind him. However, I did it anyway, because his assumptions would have been accurate.
This strange space between reality and fiction felt like we owned it. Only us. No one else.
Smooth skin met my fingers when I moved them beneath the lapel of his shirt, pushing the material down his shoulders and arms until it fell to the floor. There, dark ink covered his skin, confirming what I already knew. This wasn’t real. Couldn’t have been. Those markings were erased when Elise resurrected him, but …
As my fingers moved over the curves and sharp edges of symbols etched in my memory, it certainlyfeltreal.
A soft kiss pressed to my lips and I kissed him back, my eyes staying open as I stared, finding it hard to believe he had the audacity to touch me like this. Finding it hard to believe I dared to let him.
Those lips moved to my neck, causing heat to scatter everywhere—up my back, my legs … all over. The room went dark when the relief of finally giving in forced my eyes closed. Each step we took toward the bed was a reminder of the many reasons we should have resisted one another, why I should have let him walk away when he tried.
“What if Father finds out?”
The concern escaped my lips as a breathy sigh when the fabric against my chest loosened, and then fell away. The next thing that touched my flesh was his—two warm palms, anxious fingers.
I’d nearly forgotten my own question when Liam answered it.
“There’s still time to stop,” he crooned against my ear. “… if that’s what you want.”
The response was almost laughable as he tugged the belt free from my waist, flinging it carelessly as I brought him down on top of me—the softness of me pressed against the never-ending firmness of him. The mattress cradled us, and our want for one another nearly swallowed us whole.
He was all heat and passion. From head to toe. Even the lingering fear of being caught wasn’t enough to stop things from moving forward.
What if someone came looking for us?
What if they heard us?