Page 50 of Fallen Heir

Jaxson

It was the way her face lit up. First with confusion, then amusement.

The kind that bloomed slow and soft across her cheeks—the kind that belonged to a girl who hadn’t smiled like that in a long damn time. Innocent. Playful. Free.

All over some ridiculous vampire saga.

Sure, a man could appreciate a good fantasy with a love story—didn’t mean I was ready to argue over sparkly vampires like my life depended on it—butGod, the way she looked at me? Like I’d just cracked open some secret door to a version of me she didn’t expect?

That moment wrecked me.

I didn’t stand a chance.

It wasn’t just the curve of her lips or the sparkle in her eyes—it was the way she wasalivein that moment. Unburdened. Present. And I knew right then that I was a goner. The rest of my life would be spent orbiting this woman, chasing that smile, chasing that light—doing whatever the hell it took to keep her looking at me like that.

So I inched closer.

Just enough to feel her warmth. Hoping she wouldn’t recoil. Hoping the heat rolling off my skin would draw her in—pull her toward me like gravity.

And after a few moments, she spoke.

Words so quiet I almost missed them. But they slammed into me like a goddamn freight train.

“If I told you I didn’t want to be alone tonight… would that make me weak?”

My whole body stilled.

That voice. That vulnerability. That rawness.

Weak? No.

It made her real. Human. Honest.

It made hermine.

“No.” I replied, hoping she didn’t hear the crack in my voice as I tried to summon every ounce of strength I had. “It makes you real.”

I watched her eyes on mine, searching, wanting her to speak the war that was brewing inside of her mind out loud.

But when she sucked in her bottom lip.FUUUCKKKK. I damn near spilled into my pants right there on the floor under a table of scraps.

That lip did something to my body I was too ashamed to admit as an adult. Sure, maybe an adolescent that had just hit puberty, but as an adult I should be able to have a little more composure.

I reached up, pulling her lip from the grip her teeth had on it, zoning in on the small indention that had already formed. I quickly wondered, not for the first time, what her lips would feel like around me.

I told myself this was pretend. That we had lines. Rules. Boundaries.

But those rules shattered the second she leaned into me like I was something safe. Like I was the place she chose.

And God help me—I wanted her to choose me. Every damn time.

I didn’t stop to think. I didn’t hesitate. I kissed her like I’d been starving for her—because I had.

In one motion, I lifted her into my arms, her body melting against mine as I carried her to the bedroom. I didn’t give her a second to breathe—because a second meant she might think. And thinking meant doubts. And I couldn’t let doubt take this from us.

The moment I laid her on the bed, I saw it—the flicker in her eyes. The hesitation.

So I said the only thing that could reach her. “Whatever stories you have layered beneath those clothes… only make you stronger. Not weaker.”