Pandora's Box - Eve Newton Page 0,49
to demand that she kill Leviathan before three days are up.
“Annabelle…”
“Sid, I have something I need to tell you. I shouldn’t have waited. I shouldn’t have been scared about telling you. You need to hear it from me, so I need to put my selfishness aside.”
She takes my face in her face, stroking my cheeks with her thumbs. She smiles at me and my heart stops.
“I love you,” she whispers to me so quietly, I barely heard her. “I love you, Sid. I’m not afraid to say it to you. You bring out a part of me that needs to love. I want to protect you, keep you safe. I can’t do that unless you know how much I love you. I will go to the ends of Hell and back to make sure that no one ever hurts you again. You will know that I’ll protect you at all costs because I love you.”
“Oh,” I whimper, not daring to even take a breath. The tears well up in my eyes as she smiles at me again, that slow, sexy smile. I kiss her again. I devour her mouth with mine. I want to say the words back, but I can’t speak. Not yet. She has laid her heart bare for me. For me. She put her own fear aside for me. The least I can do is reciprocate that trust.
“I love you, Annabelle. I trust you,” I murmur to her and push her back to the bed.
She gasps as she knows what I want to do. I didn’t think I would, or could so soon, if at all. I am terrified. My blood is pumping through my veins so fast, so fierce it is making me feel sick. I want her to make love to me, I want it so badly, I can taste it. I don’t know how the next few minutes will go. I don’t know if she will be gentle with me or throw me around the bed. I don’t care. I just want her to, no, need her to, back up her words.
I sit on the bed and moan as she crawls into my lap, writhing against me as her tongue wraps around mine, her hands move down my body and then rip my shirt open. The buttons fly off in all directions and she pulls away from our kiss to look at me.
The hot blood in my veins goes cold.
I’m as badly scarred on my chest as I am on my face.
She lowers her mouth to the bare mutilations. I freeze. I don’t push her away, I just remain trapped, motionless in time.
“Annabelle,” I sob, suddenly gripping her arms and shoving her away from me. “Please, don’t.”
“Sid, let me love you,” she croons.
I stay silent, the scream in my head demanding that I end this. I don’t want to. I want her to keep kissing me, keep touching me. But I know that I can’t do this. Not yet.
She pushes me back to the bed, wriggling on my lap, making my body respond to her, but my fractured mind can’t deal with it. I started this, but I wasn’t ready.
“I’m not ready,” I say, grabbing her hands that are stroking my burn scars tenderly. “I’m sorry.”
I hate myself for leading her on, making her think that I was going to share my body with her. The shame of my weakness is forever etched onto my skin. I’m not ready to let her keep seeing it, touch it, kiss it.
“Sid, I’m sorry. I’ll stop,” she whispers.
I can hear the disappointment in her voice.
I scrunch my eyes up wanting to tell her not to stop. I want to sink into her hot, wet haven and forget all about my pain, my darkness.
She climbs off me, her nipples so erect under her thin top, I groan with frustration at myself.
“You say that you trust me, Sid,” she says, running her fingers over my twisted lips. “Trust that I will be careful with your heart and your body. I can, you know, despite what you’ve heard.”
I look up at her in surprise. She’s trying not to laugh at herself.
“I do trust you,” I say, taking her hand and kissing it. “Next time, I won’t stop you.”
“Are you saying that it’s up to me to decide when the next time is?” she asks carefully.
“I trust you,” I say again. “But there are Demons in my head. She won’t leave me alone.”
“I will slay them for you if I can,