The Treble With Men (Scorned Women's Society #2) - Piper Sheldon Page 0,76
never thought of it like that.”
“That’s the only mark we leave on this world.” He cupped my face. “The only lasting thing, is how we leave people feeling.”
“That’s a lovely way of looking at it.”
I’d been making myself small. I didn’t feel like I deserved a legacy.
“Thank you,” I said.
“I wish I could take the years of pain away.” His face was inches from mine. His eyes burned with such intensity that I had to break the hug, but I didn’t leave his arms completely. It was too much to be this close to him.
And then … then I thought about this position we were in. This physical position. How my body was trapped back against this wall. How his arm was around my waist. He held me to him like I was an instrument made of glass. Sturdy but delicately. I was trapped but not at risk of breaking.
I wanted to break. I wanted to shatter into a million pieces. I felt excitement and potential brimming right under the shell I’d been wearing.
His head was bowed and apologetic, like a mourning saint in a Renaissance painting. His face was so close to mine that if he just leaned lower he could graze my neck. He could rub his nose up the column and inhale deeply. And I would let him. God, how I wanted him to. I wanted his body pressed hard with the same pent up energy I was feeling. I wanted him shaking for me as I shook for him.
But I wouldn’t be out on this ledge alone. It was like holding on to a single branch with an abyss underneath me. I couldn’t let go unless I was absolutely sure he was there to catch me.
And then.
The tiniest shift in the air. A feminine awareness. I swallowed. Too afraid to lift my gaze to see what he was doing. But he watched me. Not watched—memorized me. I felt his gaze moving over my skin as though he dragged a feather against it. Goosebumps prickled down my chest.
“Kim.” My name was a pained whisper.
His was closer than ever. Heat permeated me. Please, just touch me. Kiss me. Do anything.
Chapter 28
I wish you could see yourself as I do.
DEVLIN
Kim had been suffering for so long. I knew that something had been holding her back. How could nobody else in her life see it? Why hadn’t anybody stepped in sooner? I wanted to put her back together.
Kim was loose and languid as she leaned back against the wall, barely held up by my arm wrapped around her waist. She didn’t blush or pull away. She waited. Almost patiently, as though she’d wait all night if needed. But the heat would consume us long before then. My want for her was a real presence between us. The closer I inched, the more it saturated into my skin.
Her face was tipped toward the ceiling, hiding her expression from me as a flush spread over the tops of her breasts. The sweet, long column of her throat was exposed to me. Her pulse fluttered there, gentle compared to my own thrumming heart. Her chest heaved up and down.
She felt it. That shift when we went from talking to other. The other was the thing between us that had the most power. It always had.
“Kim,” I said.
It was all that I could manage. I was going to cross a line that we would never come back from and I couldn’t form any other sound beside her name.
She was beautiful. She was more than that. She was everything. I couldn’t wait a moment more.
I stepped closer, moving with slow decisiveness. If this wasn’t what she wanted, there would be plenty of time to stop me. I leaned forward until every part of her was pressed against me. Every bit of me, against her. Let her feel my want for her.
She gasped so lightly I wouldn’t have heard it if not for her mouth being just below my ear.
Her neck called out to me. I bent and inhaled deeply there, tracing the flushed skin. So soft. The tip of my nose tracked up her neck as I moved up to take in her sweet essence. She smelled so damn good. Like woman and desire. My mouth watered to taste her.
Her body shuddered as I moved, perfectly responsive in every way, in learning and listening, and talking, and I knew this, what we were about to do, would be no different. My left arm had her