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“Do you remember when you asked me whether I loved him?” My quiet question made Vuk’s eyes flare. “The truth is, I don’t. Not romantically.”

This time, his body trembled from the force of his exhale.

“He doesn’t love me either,” I said. “He never has.”

The library was so silent I could hear the weight of my admission as it slid off my shoulders and drifted to the floor. I was bare and naked with vulnerability—half my heart in my throat, the other half in my hand.

After all the pretense, the lies and deception and denial, this was where I’d ended up. Right where I wanted to be.

“Why are you telling me this?” Vuk’s voice was cool, but the fire in his eyes blazed hot enough to make my toes curl.

WhywasI telling him this? What was I hoping for? That he would admit he had feelings for me? That he would sweep me off my feet and make all my problems disappear with a snap of his fingers?

He had the power to do that, but I didn’t want a magic fix. I wanted…

Him.

That was all this was. I didn’t care about his money or power. I didn’t care about his dubious actions toward Wentworth or other people who deserved it. I didn’t care about yesterday, tomorrow, or three weeks from now.

I only cared about this moment, right here, with the two of us.

“Because I want you to know,” I said. “And because I…I don’t want you to feel guilty.”

“About what?”

“About what I want you to do right now,” I whispered.

Vuk closed the distance between us with slow, deliberate steps. His normally pale eyes were the color of midnight in the dim light, and he moved with the coiled grace of a predator on the hunt.

I held my ground even as fear and desire throbbed between my thighs.

He stopped inches from me. “What you want me to do.” His tone was lethally soft. “And what might that be?”

The scent of his cologne stole into my lungs, robbing me of words. I licked my lips again. My gaze touched his mouth, and a tortured noise rumbled past his throat.

It was the first tangible sign he was losing control.

The flames pulsed hotter; my skin drew so tight I felt every minuscule shift in the air. The atmosphere was so dense, the tiniest spark could set it ablaze.

“Take off your ring.” Vuk’s harsh command was a shot of whiskey straight to my veins.

Fever gripped me, making me dizzy. My skin flushed, and there was a slight shake in my hand as I slid the diamond off my finger.

He watched, his eyes dark and merciless, as the tight band finally popped free.

I placed it on the table behind me. It’d barely hit the mahogany surface before Vuk grabbed the back of my neck and swallowed my gasp with his mouth.

The flames exploded into a wildfire. Smoke and heat raced through my blood, consuming me from the inside out. His skin was the only cool reprieve in a world ablaze, and my hands roamed over him, desperately seeking something to appease this aching, insatiablewantinside me.

Vuk groaned. He lifted me up and set me on the table, his kiss ravenous, almost punishing. When I wrapped my legs around his waist, urging him closer, he nipped my bottom lip in a light warning.

“Careful,srce moje.” His voice rasped against my sensitized skin. “Or you’ll fucking kill me.”

My fingers curled around a fistful of his shirt. “Good,” I breathed.

Vuk squeezed. His fingers dug into the sides of my neck, and an embarrassing moan escaped before his mouth covered mine again.

This.Thiswas what I’d been missing. I couldn’t put a name to it before because I’d never experienced it, but it was wild and reckless and everything I imagined a kiss would be.