Page 61 of Walking in Darkness

Then Pax was in front of me, begging, “Are you hurt?”

I could hardly shake my head. “No. I barely cut my finger, but it’s nothing. Are you?”

“No, I’m fine.” His palms flew to my cheeks, cupping them as he stared at me. “Fuck, Aria, I was so fuckin’ scared when I turned around after grabbing that kid from the street and you weren’t there. Knew immediately what had happened.”

“I’m okay. I’m okay. I ...”

I looked back to where Ambrose had disappeared before I turned back to him.

And that was the second we knew. When we understood what our connection meant.

We were stronger together.

The bond between us that had pulled us through time and realm amplifying our power.

We were meant for this—for this love that, for so many years, we’d been told was forbidden.

But no . . .

No . . .

Joy spiraled with the intensity that ricocheted between me and Pax, and in a flash, Pax’s mouth descended on mine, his kiss frantic as he twisted one hand up in my hair and clutched me against him with the other.

His mouth pressed and begged, his tongue stroking against mine in a bid of desperation.

Passion spiraled.

Speeding through our veins and whispering down into our souls.

Love and lust and every chain that had tried to hold us back.

He hoisted me up, and I wrapped my legs around his waist at the same time that I wound my arms around his neck.

I kissed him with the same fervency he kissed me with.

The need that boiled between us urgent and acute.

He didn’t break the kiss as he stepped over the man who was knocked out, face down on the ground, and carried me around the side of the building.

His tongue sought and his spirit thrummed while I breathed this new belief into his being.

“Pax.”

“Fuck, Aria, fuck,” he mumbled frantically against my lips.

When we got to the front of the building, he reluctantly set me on my feet, though he took my hand, and we raced across the lot to his car. He whipped the door open and helped me inside before he ducked in to take another desperate kiss.

He broke it long enough to jog around the front of the car, and he jumped into the driver’s seat; then he was reaching for me from over the console. Hot hands glided over every inch of my body he could get to, his mouth possessing mine again.

A groan rolled up his throat when he forced himself away. Ragged breaths jutted from his mouth, which remained an inch from mine. “Need to be inside you, right fuckin’ now.”

I leaned over the console, and I kissed up under his jaw and scratched my nails under his jacket and over his tee, searching for a way to sink all the way into him.

“And I need it. I need you to be. Right now,” I whispered back.

His hand clamped down on the inside of my thigh before he threw the car into reverse and whipped out of the spot.

Chapter Nineteen