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“Because I am trapping you in something you will never be able to leave. You will never fall in love with me, and you will never have the love marriage you deserve.”

“Who said I could never fall in love with you?!” she fired back, her voice rising nearly an entire octave.

She was stepping closer to him with every question she asked, and now she was only a few inches away, staring up into his dark eyes.

“Because I am unlovable, Ara,” he croaked, his eyes flicking to the ground. “I always have been. I cut myself off. I do not allow myself to develop feelings for anybody, and in return I hope that they do not either.”

“Is that why you’re mad at me? Because I’m trapping you in the same thing?” she asked, her eyes glossy.

Little do you know I cannot stop thinking about you!

“I am not mad at you!”

“And you are not unlovable!”

Their faces were now dangerously close. Arabella could feel every quick breath he took and the heat emanating from his strong body. She almost could not stand being this close to him and not being able to do anything with her raging emotions.

She wanted to put her hands on him—not in a violent way, but in a way that showed him the fire he had stoked inside her. She just didn’t know how to even go about showing him, or if it was proper for the woman to make the first move.

“You make me feel the most annoying emotions that it drives me insane whenever I see you,” he admitted.

“How do I make you feel, Edward?”

He looked her in the eye, his pupils dilated. “Like I am on fire. Overwhelming in the best way possible.”

Even in the darkness, she knew that he could see her pinkening face. She felt the courage to stand on her tiptoes.

“Show me,” she whispered.

Arabella could hear her heart pounding in her ears. This was it. She was about to kiss the man that she would lie with for the rest of her life. She had no idea what to do, but at the same time she did. When Edward’s hands gently cupped her face and tilted her chin up, she wrapped her fingers around the crooks of his elbows.

His breath was hot on her face, and she was sure that her breath was just as warm on his face. The seconds before they touched felt like hours, and when their lips finally met, it took everything in her not to freak out.

Kissing was a new sensation for her because she had never felt lips on her own before. His lips felt warm and soft. And they moved against her own at an agonizingly slow pace. She did not quite know what to do with her lips, so she let him lead.

He managed to part her lips a bit wider, and when his tongue met hers, she felt a fierce shiver run up her spine.

She let all her inhibitions go when he started kissing her harder. She felt a near uncomfortable ball of warmth sizzle in the pit of her stomach. Was this what Sarah had referred to?

The burning sensation traveled lower and surprised Arabella when she could feel it deep within her core.

This feels beyond incredible.

When they finally broke the kiss, they stared at each other while Edward rubbed small circles with his thumb right under her eye.

“Now you know.”

When Arabella returned to her chambers that night, her mind could not stop replaying their kiss. It was almost impossible for her to fall asleep.

I cannot wait to do that again.

ChapterEight

“Sit still, Maddie,” Sarah chided, placing another pin into her sister’s hair.

“I would if you stop pricking me with all these pins,” Madeline complained. “Ow!”

Arabella laughed at the familiar scene. “Oh, Maddie, you’re such a harridan!”