Lyrik’s hold was fierce. Unyielding. Those eyes searched every inch of my face.
Sorrow shook my head. “I didn’t know they’d found her body until a year later. I…I was missing my mom so bad. I signed into my old Facebook account…just needing to see her face. There was an article I was tagged in linking all of us…one naming me as a missing person after they’d discovered her. They were looking for Cameron as a person of interest.”
Lyrik squeezed me tighter, voice as harsh as broken glass, disbelief and so much hate. “He killed her?”
I shook my head as more tears broke free, begging for him to understand. “No, Lyrik. She killed herself. He dumped her. Just left her like garbage. He was gone when the police showed up at his house. They finally caught up to him and arrested him. He’s…he’s getting ready to go on trial.”
The room swam, the decision dangling over me like a noose.
Run.
Or turn around.
“Jesus.” Everything about Lyrik softened with a thready caution. He dragged the back of his hand across the tears soaking my cheeks before he knitted his fingers through my hair.
“Blue. I want to destroy him. Never wanted to hurt someone the way I want to hurt him. Can’t fucking stand it…thinking about someone hurtin’ you. What can I do? Tell me what to do and I’ll fucking do it. Say it and it’s done.”
I gripped him by both wrists and rocked toward him. “Kiss me.”
Two months ago, he’d promised to erase Cameron Lucan from my body. To touch me and fill me until I knew nothing but his name.
But it was Lyrik who made me remember mine.
There was zero hesitation. Lyrik hauled me up against the warmth of that strong body. Mouth overwhelming.
But this kiss. This kiss was so excruciatingly slow.
Deliberate.
Measured.
From every wisp and tug of his lips over mine to every flick of his tongue.
An intentional dance.
Unhurried yet brimming with need.
Barely contained.
I felt dizzy on it.
“So brave. So fucking brave.”
And we spun and we spun and we spun.
Searching hands. Heedful touches.
Edging back, he dragged my shirt over my head, whispered, “Blue.”
A cool rush of air prickled my skin, my flesh covered in chills as he leaned in and kissed across the upper curve of my shoulder.
My head dropped back.
His mouth fell fervid at my neck.
Hot hands at my sides.
I fumbled under his shirt and pulled it free. My hungry gaze roamed, as if I could decipher each bunch of his muscles, the flex and the bow, the smooth skin covered in tantalizing ink.
My eyes wandered, just as greedily as my hands as I touched and explored, drunk on freedom and lust.
My spirit unchained.
Shackles released.
Callused fingertips trailed over the warped heart imprinted on my chest. Translating. Communicating.
Guard your heart.
It was his.
I shivered with his kiss that was just as cautious when he pressed it there.
Oh God. This man.
I arched up on my knees to meet him, my hands fisted in his hair. His mouth moved delicately across the lacy fabric of my bra, his breath like a warm caress across my skin.
A tiny mewl slipped from between my lips and I held him tighter. Closer as he licked then softly sucked.
The need to know him was greater than it’d ever been. His dark, dark spirit taking on shape and form. It snuffed out the air until the only thing I knew was him.
I slid my palms over both his shoulders, slipping down his arms. Across the designs. The pads of my fingers played across the song on his left arm and over the name hidden there.
Tell me who you are.
The question begged at my tongue, but was silenced by his when he suddenly moved to capture my mouth. Hand on the back of my head, he tilted his to the side, kissing me deeper, carrying me away into his twilight.
Tell me who you are.
Lyrik scooped me from the floor and carried me to his bed. He laid me in the middle, never letting me go as he climbed over me.
Enclosing and surrounding and engulfing.
But where Lyrik and I normally lit, we smoldered.
His movements were controlled. Purposed. He edged back, never releasing me from the grip of his gaze as he lifted me by the ankle and unzipped my boot, turned and did the same to the other.
That bold, beautiful body inched forward to flick at the buttons on my jeans, my pulse going wild as I was eclipsed by his shadow.
A sigh puffed from between my lips as I lifted my hips to help him.
He dragged them down, taking my underwear with them.
“Blue,” he whispered at my belly, hand palming the apple on my thigh.
“What have you done? What have I done?” It was all a jumbled whir, lost to the energy.
I shuddered, pinned to his bed by the weight of his intensity. His severity so dense and dominant I felt our spirits coalesce.
There was nothing but us.
My head spun, dizzy on this feeling.
Light. Light. Light.
He was suddenly over me, that beautiful body bare, guiding himself into me.
Whole.
Never before had I felt so whole.