The Nightmare (The Mist #2) - Regine Abel Page 0,60

can smell your arousal. You secretly want me to tear off your clothes and fuck you senseless, right here, right now against this wall.”

“Sex isn’t everything!” I hissed. “I can’t let lust dictate my choices.”

“It is more than just lust between us,” Zain snapped back. “Tell me I’m not in your mind during every waking moment? Tell me you don’t long for my presence every time we’re apart? Tell me you don’t enjoy our banter and our conversations when you forget to try to fit in the arbitrary mold you think you should? You can’t because I, too, feel the same about you. I want to be with you, and you want to be with me. Nothing else matters.”

“Humans aren’t binary like you!” I exclaimed in a hushed tone, not wanting to alert whoever might be listening.

The fury that flashed through his face before it closed off gave me cold shivers.

“It’s them, isn’t it?” he asked, contempt dripping from his voice. “You fear what those insignificant humans might think about you getting involved with something like me?”

Yes. I shouldn’t, but yes.

And that thought shamed me. How many times had I told my own patients not to live their lives according to others? Not to let their social network dictate what they can or cannot do, especially if that compliance made them miserable. So, why was I doing it to myself?

“Zain, I… I…” my voice trailed off, not really knowing what to say.

This was all happening too fast. In the nine years since I’d ended my therapy and begun my studies to become a psychologist, I’d believed myself recovered. But I’d also avoided men. Not because I was too busy or no good ones were to be found. There had been plenty of upstanding, eligible men, the type you brought home to Mom and Dad. And yet, I’d shunned all of them because the only thing I wanted were the wrong ones. I hadn’t broken the vicious cycle, I’d just hidden from it.

Until I found the one bad man who could fulfil my fantasies and not hurt me in the process.

Our eyes locked, and some silent communication flowed between us. An odd sense of peace descended over me at the same time as his anger melted away from his gorgeous features. His hand moved away from my nape to tighten slightly around my throat. I didn’t resist as he leaned forward, stopping close enough for me to feel the heat of his lips right in front of mine.

“I will allow it,” he said in a firm but whispered voice. “I will allow you to hide our relationship from these weaklings, for the time being. But when we are in private, I will not tolerate you pretending you aren’t mine, that you don’t want this as much as I do. Understood?”

“Yes,” I said breathily, shocked by my immediate response.

“Louder,” he insisted.

“Yes,” I repeated.

“Are you mine, Naima?”

This time, a few seconds passed, my eyes flicking between his as I came to terms with the decision I was making. I could drag this on, knowing the outcome was inevitable. He was asking for a commitment. That scared me beyond words and thrilled me just as much.

“Yes, Zain. I am yours.”

An incredible sense of relief washed over me when those words left my lips. I had expected a triumphant grin, a smug smile, or a satisfied smirk from Zain. Instead, his face took on a soft, tender, almost vulnerable expression I had never thought to see on one such as he. My Nightmare released my neck and my arms, which had still been pinned against the wall above my head. He slipped one arm around my back, the fingertips of the other tracing my features like a blind man would to discover a face he had long wished to see. My hands settled on his waist, gripping his shirt.

“Do you have any idea how crazy I am about you?” he asked in a soft voice.

A brief, nervous laughter escaped me. “I… I’m starting to notice,” I said, my voice choking on the last word.

Zain stared at me a moment longer before kissing me gently, slowly, with something akin to reverence.

“I am yours, Naima. All that I am always was, and always will be yours. You are my reason for existing.”

The devotion in his words, in his eyes, and in the way he looked at me as if I was the greatest wonder in the world made my eyes prickle. I buried my face in his