Page 41

Not yet, anyway.

“You’re crazy.”

“Yeah,” he agrees, combing his fingers through his hair, his eyes raking over every inch of me.

My head spins a little from the wine, but it’s nothing compared to the effects his hungry gaze has on me.

“I found the perfect one, so that even when you close the blinds, I can still see through the little window in the door.”

My chin drops and I gawp at him.

“Do you not have any boundaries?”

It’s obviously a rhetorical, but that doesn’t stop him from answering.

“When it comes to you? No. Zero. Zilch. You’re mine, Calli. And even when you didn’t know it, I did. I’ve always known.”

“What if I never found out?” I ask, although I don’t think I’m going to like the answer.

“Then… nothing. I’d have continued watching you, protecting you.”

“Why?” My heart aches, knowing that he’s telling the truth, and I don’t like what that reality could have looked like for him.

“Because I couldn’t not,” he explains like it makes total sense.

“That’s insane. What if I met someone, fell in lo…” I trail off at the pain that shoots through his eyes at my words.

“You will. One day, that will happen.”

I’m barely able to breathe as his eyes hold mine, the darkness in them consuming me.

It’s not until he’s standing right before me, his warm breath cascading over my face, that I realise I’ve stopped moving.

“N-no, it won’t. Nikolas, I’m—” Right before my eyes his dark, impenetrable mask slams into place and I swallow down the words that are right on the tip of my tongue.

“Strip,” he demands, his voice leaving no space for argument.

I don’t move. I’m frozen to the spot, locked in his pained stare.

His movement doesn’t register, but the flash of moonlight on the smooth side of his knife sure catches my eyes.

“Daemon, what are you—” My words are cut off with a gasp when the blade slices through my top, and only a second later, it makes quick work of my bra too.

My breasts spill free a beat before the sting of the small cut he gave me registers.

“Fuck,” he grunts, his eyes locked on the small bubble of blood that appears.

“It’s okay, it’s—”

He drops to his knees before me, and his tongue hits the skin just beneath the cut before he drags it up, collecting the blood.

“Holy fuck, devil boy,” I pant, my nipples hard as glass as his tongue pushes into the little cut, making me wince.

His fingers make quick work of the button on my skirt before he drags it and my knickers down my legs, leaving me standing bare in the middle of the beach.

Sitting back on his haunches, he stares up at me in awe, his fists clenching on his thighs as if he’s holding himself back from something.

“Run,” he growls, but my head is spinning and I barely register the word.