Third a Kiss (Goddess Isles #3) - Pepper Winters Page 0,1

out around my legs, fawn glitter and champagne gems all winking in the sunlight. The heavy material made me trip as I careened around a corner and ran as fast as I could.

Grabbing handfuls of the train, I threw myself into a gallop.

Most of me didn’t want to run.

This wasn’t my plan.

I’d fed Sully his elixir, purely to force him into admitting that what we felt toward each other wasn’t normal. This sparkling chemistry? This heart-haunting bond? I had to believe it was worth fighting for, despite our diabolical beginning. I had to trust that I hadn’t lost my mind by falling for a man who traded cash for my life.

There’s more to him than that.

I know there is.

My breath came in erratic spurts.

My legs slowed.

I don’t want to run.

I’d only done so because of the way he’d begged me. At the absolute carnage on his face. The undeniable terror that he felt.

But…

I stopped on the path, turning around to face the way I’d come. My footprints had scattered sand onto the purple orchids bordering the lane, my dress suffocating my straining ribcage with its beaded jewels and organza.

If I ran…then all of this would be for nothing.

Sully would ride through the elixir just as I had that first day. He’d use himself until he could think straight…or he’ll use another.

And then, when he was back to being more man than monster, he’d restart negotiations with Roy Slater to sell me.

No.

I let go of my dress. It puddled around my feet, blending into the sand so it looked as if I’d morphed from the beach itself and been given breath thanks to the thousands of jewels imbedding me.

I have to go back.

Goosebumps ran over my spine as a snarl sounded. A snarl echoing with pure lust.

I shivered.

I’d been elixir’s prisoner three times now. I’d become familiar with the insidious takeover. The rush of lust followed by the stupid belief that you could control the effects. The pain when you accepted you couldn’t. The need when you broke with that first release. The shame at your horny inhibitions. The sickness at your traitorous body. Until finally…the perfect peace when you let go. When you said yes instead of no. When your body joined with another’s and found everything that it’d been looking for.

He’s in pain.

I shook my head; a frangipani flower fell from the strands and floated to the ground.

He’s in pain because of me.

He’d done this to me. Therefore, he deserved it.

He was about to sell me. Therefore, I had every right.

He told me to run to keep me safe. Therefore, I…I have to go back.

He’d told me to run for my benefit, not his. I’d offered myself. He’d refused. He’d proven something fundamental in that moment.

He cares.

He cared if he hurt me. He’d care if he killed me. He cared too much…that’s why he was going to sell me.

That thought was brighter than lightning.

Was that true?

Could he feel the depth that I did? Could he be battling everything I was?

If that was true, then running would destroy our single chance at honesty.

This was my only opportunity to make Sully see. To make both of us admit we couldn’t keep doing this.

Whatever we were, whatever we felt…it ends…today.

And maybe, just maybe, if we survived each other, it could be a beginning and not the ending he’d chosen. We could talk. We could just…be.

Bracing myself, I gathered up my dress and stepped back the way I’d come. I wouldn’t back down from this. I would suffer the consequences and the climaxes. I wouldn’t punish him the way he’d punished me.

I’d give him what he needed.

I’ll give him me.

“Jinx.”

A dark, deadly growl. A snap of a snarl.

My head swooped up. My eyes caught his as he slammed to a stop, blocking the path. His suit hung in tatters. His blazer had been thrown off behind him. His shirt flayed open, torn buttons hanging off broken threads, his belt slinging haphazardly from belt loops, his fly unzipped, and feet bare from his normal pristine shoes.

For the first time since I’d arrived, Sully Sinclair glistened with sweat. His cold-blooded persona had succumbed to the island heat, dousing his skin in moisture.

My heart threw itself into torment, racing, and smoking, growing its own pair of legs and begging to run. I massaged my chest where it kicked and coughed, doing my best to stay calm.

I’d done this.

I’d applied makeup and dressed in a gown and stared at my reflection, knowing I was sacrificing myself to