Page 74 of Scavenger's Oath

Fuck.

Is she… turned on?

That’s why she’d hesitated.

And I didn’t notice. Didn’t see it, because I was too focused on getting her away from Phoenix and Myles. On keeping her safe from everyone but me.

I didn’t want to believe it at the time. But now… it’s clear. The truth of it, written across her body in every tiny shiver.

Shedidwant it.

And she’s still aching.

I could give her what she needs.

No! What the fuck am I thinking?I can’t risk becoming the monster I used to be—the one who didn’t care if they cried and bled. I swore I’d never be him again. And I can’t trust myself not to lose control.

“Ivy,” I breathe, tightening my hold on her. “You think I don’t want you?”

She has to know it’s not because I don’t want to. It’s because I can’t.

Ivy swallows hard, as if she regrets saying it and tries to pull away.

But I don’t let her. Cupping her chin, I tilt her face up. Her eyes are glassy, ashamed. And it breaks me.

“I didn’t touch you,” I say, brows knitting together, “because I didn’t want you to think youhadtooffer yourself like that. I thought if I waited long enough, you’d trust me first. That you’d know you didn’t owe me anything. I want you to choose…withoutobligation.”

She blinks fast, but a tear slips out anyway.

“Sweetheart.” My eyes soften as I wipe the tear away with my thumb. “You don’t disgust me. You undo me.”

Her lips part, and that flicker of disbelief in her expression shatters me. The storm inside me goes nuclear.

I want to tear this shirt off her, rip through every barrier between us and bury myself so deep she’ll never doubt my devotion again.

My hands tightened slightly at her waist before I force them to loosen.

She’s shaken. Vulnerable. I don’t want to scare her even more.

But her eyes—god, those eyes—they're begging me.

“He left you wanting, didn’t he? You didn’t,” I swallow hard, “…finish.”

She nods once. “Do you still want me?” she whispers, shifting in my lap again, fingers tightening around my bicep. “Even now?”

My breath catches and I feel the snap ripple through me like a fault line finally giving way. But I have to restrain myself. I rest my forehead against hers, just breathing her in. “Ivy, of course I do. But… I can’t.”

“Please, Zane,” she begs. “I want you.”

Her desperate pleas sever something in me.

I wanted to give her the right to choose? Thisisher choice.

Sliding my hand into her hair, I crash my lips into hers. Kissing her deeply but gently.Worshipful. Like the goddess she is.

“I should’ve told you sooner,” I murmur against her lips. “But I’m saying it now. I want you, Ivy. I fucking ache for you.”

She melts into it like she's been starving for this, tongue meeting mine in the middle as I kiss her just how I’ve been fantasising. The soft moan that slips from her mouth nearly makes me burst in my pants.