Page 32 of Thorns of Silence

Her eyes widened, staring at me like I was her damnation. Or the monster from her nightmares.

“Sicko,”she signed, shaking her head and strutting away.

Why was it that I was always watching her walk away from me?

FOURTEEN

PHOENIX

My frustration took on a form of its own, taunting me with a million what-ifs.

I wouldn’t allow myself to be fooled again, no matter how alluring his promise of sin was.

I rushed out of the restaurant and was merely twenty feet away when the dark sky lit up. I whirled around on my heel to find the restaurant engulfed in flames.

Frozen, I gasped in shock, not believing my eyes. Dante strode casually toward me, flames burning at his back and his hands in his pockets. He looked like Hades, strolling leisurely out of hell.

The man was… I didn’t even think psychotic was the right word for him. What in the fuck happened to him?

My pulse drummed in my veins, and with each step he took, I wondered if I should run. Except, he’d give chase,thatI didn’t need to wonder about. I still remembered how much he thrived on the cat-and-mouse game. A shudder rolled down my spine as I worked hard to keep the memories at bay.

“Too young. Too stupid. Too blind.” Those were the words Grandma screeched at the top of her lungs.

I had never been so happy to prove her wrong.

Dante’s cabin at Lake Tahoe, surrounded by Douglas firs and glassy aquamarine waters, was our haven. It was where I lost my virginity to him, where we always came to explore each other’s bodies and get lost in pleasure.

It looked even more breathtaking tonight beneath the blood moon. Almost magical. The mossy scent of the damp forest floor infiltrated my senses and left me in an intoxicated state. Though, it had nothing on the way I responded to Dante’s smell.

“Nothing will ever keep me away from you,” he mouthed, watching me with adoration. “You and our baby.” His big palm came to rest on my lower belly. “The three of us will dance through life together. You’re it for me, dandelion. Fuck my father; fuck the entire world. No one will ever stand in our way. You and our baby are my priority.”

I couldn’t believe my happiness. The news of my pregnancy had gone from terrifying to the single best thing that had ever happened to me. It also made me extremely emotional, and his words were going to turn me into a blubbering mess if I didn’t cut them short.

“What if I ran?” I signed, pulling my lips between my teeth when he tightened his hand on my belly, dangerously close to my ticklish ribs. He had to know I was teasing—nothing and nobody would keep me away from him. We might be young, but we’d make it work.

A minute of silence enveloped us as he looked at me like he was ready to feast on me. His eyes were dark blue pools, hungry with lust and raw emotion.

I’d never dreamt of this sense of belonging, at having such reverence be directed at me.

“I’d chase you to the ends of the earth,” he vowed, then shoved his face against the side of my throat, licking a hot stripe down the column of my neck. He tugged me against his chest, my body slamming against his and crushing my breasts.

His hard cock pressed against my stomach as he took my mouth for a claiming kiss. Animalistic and intense. His tongue battling with mine. My teeth clashing against his.

It was crazy that only a few months had brought us here. Sizzling physical attraction to this emotional connection.

He wrenched his lips from mine, leaving only an inch of space between us.

“I’m going to claim every hole, dandelion. Every hole of yours will be mine. Your pussy. Your mouth. Your ass. Every fucking one of them.” I was no expert on cocks, but he was very well endowed. There was no way that I could take him in my ass. His fingers threaded in my hair, angling my head so our gazes met. “Are you contemplating rejecting me?”

God, I loved his lips. Sometimes when he talked, it was hard to focus on the words he was uttering when all I wanted to do was kiss him. Again and again.

“Are you, dandelion?” he asked again, and I shuddered, my heart trembling with nerves.

I shook my head, putting space between us. His fingers loosened from my hair, both of us grinning like two fools in love.

“You’ll have to catch me first,” I mouthed slowly since he didn’t know ASL, then bolted across the cabin.

I flung the door open as inexplicable energy coursed through me. It was the thrill of being chased. I could feel his eyes on my back. I chanced a look over my shoulder, seeing the predatory smile on his face as he closed the distance between us.