Page 120 of The Ecstasy of Sin

She lets me guide her, allowing me to nestle her into the sheets. When I follow her, I pull her into the curve of my body and wrap the blankets tight around us both.

She buries her face against my throat. I breathe her in, drunk on the feel of her in my arms. My cock stirs at the intimacy, my body coming alive from the warmth of her. She presses a kiss to my neck, as soft as a sigh.

“I’m so in love with you, Wren,” I murmur, tightening my grip on her.

“I’m in love with you too,” she whispers, nuzzling in deeper.

I hold her close, letting her soak in the warmth of my body. Within minutes, she’s asleep. I can tell by the way she relaxes in my embrace, her breath deepening.

I stroke her cheek, then trace the delicate line of her jaw with my fingertip. My chest aches with feelings I wasn’t sure I’d ever feel. But I do, and I feel them so deeply it makes my entire body ache. I could never fit the label of sociopath, not when I feel things with such depth.

“I would die for you,” I whisper, but not loud enough to rouse her from sleep. “I’ll do anything for you, anything to keep you, anything to love you.”

Absolutely fucking anything.

CHAPTER 30

Wren

Myeyesflutteropen,and the only thing I see is a shifting, geometric rainbow streaked across half my vision. The other half of my sight is gone. My brain can’t process signals in that region while the neurons misfire.

I wince. “Damn it,” I groan, trying to roll over and bury my face in the pillow, when strong arms tighten around me.

“What’s wrong?” Dominic’s voice is rough with sleep, his chest pressed to my back as he spoons me.

“Migraine,” I respond, and instantly Dominic stiffens. “A real one this time. No more lies, I promise.”

His body relaxes. He presses a kiss to my shoulder before slipping out of bed. I hear Hunter’s nails click softly against the floor as he gets up to follow Dominic into the bathroom.

When Dominic returns, I can’t see him clearly, but I can feel the familiar touch of painkillers as he presses three pills to my lips.

“Open,” he commands, and my body obeys, even with the electrical storm raging across my brain. My lips part, and he places the tablets on my tongue. One hand cradles the back of my head while he brings a glass of water to my mouth.

“Drink.”

I do. The water is cool, soothing the dryness in my throat. “Thank you,” I murmur, rubbing my eyes with the palm of my hand.

“Of course, baby. Is there anything else that helps?”

I think for a moment. When I was homeless, I didn’t have options. But before that, when I had a home and parents, I’d take a hot bath. That always helped with the numbness, the tingling, and the pain.

“When I was younger, I used to take a long, hot bath.” I explain. “It helped with some of the pain, and the numbness.”

“I’ll run a bath.” He says, and then I hear his footsteps disappear toward the bathroom.

I close my eyes against the nauseating chaos of the aura and sink back into the plush pillow beneath my head.

It’s been so long since I’ve had a migraine while in a place that didn’t make everything worse. Not a loud shelter, or downtown Toronto under the blazing sun. Not curled up in an alleyway in the middle of a smoggy night.

Being here, safe in Dominic’s ridiculously comfortable bed, stirs emotions I’m not ready to face. I don’t know if I deserve any of this. I didn’t work for it. I didn’t pay for it. I did nothing to earn what Dominic is giving me.

Toxic thoughts move through me like smoke. The guilt, the shame, and the weight of failure—those emotions suffocate me.

I sit up in the bed, my vision still fractured. I wrap my arms around myself as I stare at what I think is the bedroom door, a tremor in my hands.

I jump slightly when the mattress shifts under Dominic’s weight. I turn toward the heat of his body as it radiates beside me.

“Is something else wrong?” He asks, his voice quiet.