Page 63 of The Art of Obsession

Finally, I fall. Finally, he lowers me into the water. He sits on the ledge with his arms wrapped around me as I shudder in the aftermath. After a few minutes, the adrenaline crashes, and I feeleverything.

“What now, Acheron?”

“Callum,” he corrects in a low, deep voice.

“Can I call you Cal?”

A pause. I tense, worried if I offended him. But then, he combs his fingers through my hair, kisses me softly, and says, “I’m honored by your desire to give me a nickname.”

Shit. What have I done?

Aww, a nickname,gushes Cherry.That’s practically marriage in villain-speak. Should I start planning the wedding?

26

“Did you just call yourself my girlfriend?”

Chapter Playlist:

“What Lies Beneath” – Breaking Benjamin

“Monsters” – All Time Low – Demi Lovato and Blackbear

“Try” - Pink

CAL

“What now, Cal?”she asks still out of breath.

“Starlight,” I utter against her lips, smirking.

Everleigh gasps at the transformation of the bathroom. The clear walls of the tank darken from my command, and a cascade of stars bursts to life, turning the space into a living planetarium. The shimmering constellations don’t stop at the walls; tiny glowing lights dance across our skin, tracing the curves of our bodies like celestial fireflies. A galaxy of my creation.

Her against me, like this in our post-coital aftermath with her dark, damp waves on my skin, she’s never been more beautiful.

“Now…” I pull out but keep her legs around me, my smile growing. “I give you twenty questions.”

“Twenty questions?” She lifts her brows.

“Mmm. And answers.”

“Seriously?”

I kiss her neck. “Deadly.”

Pulling in a deep sigh, Everleigh lets it out and gestures to the anatomical heart. “First…I hope this can be a freebie. Um, don’t you need to do something about this? And this?” she adds, touching the spot where she stabbed me.

“I’ll give you that one,

Little Quill. I will wrap them soon. But the water has healing properties and a blend of essential oils. They will help,” I finish, rise from the ledge, take a washcloth and bar of soap from one of the corner nooks, then step deeper into the steamy water, loving how the points of light pierce the fog to speckle her skin.

“Lean back,” I say, approving when she arches her back and dips her hair into the water, breathing a deep sigh.

Fuck, her tits are covered in my teeth marks, the nipples so red and hard. My cock twitches. I’ve never been this hungry for a woman, never driven to such insane, extreme measures to keep her, to make her mine.

Once she comes back up, I say, “Can you stand?”

She bites her lower lip before mustering a nod.