Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 66383 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66383 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
I shouldn’t be here.
I should be with Max.
Yet, I came here.
Why?
“You know.” It isn’t a question.
“I know,” I confirm.
He takes a step toward me, and my heart rate picks up the closer he gets. He stops when he reaches me and cups my cheek in his palm. “I was interested at first… the very first time I visited you. I wanted to know if the rumors were true. They couldn’t be, though, right? Lucifer doesn’t mix with earthly people. But when I saw her and then you, I knew it was all true. You were his daughter. You have his power as well as your mother’s. You were going to change this world and make it a better place.”
I can’t help but lean into his touch. “I didn’t choose to be like this.”
“I know. It’s what makes you all that more special. You always thought your power would be better off in your sister’s hands. But you are wrong. While she is strong, she isn’t you. You hold qualities no one else possesses. And that is a miracle within itself.”
“She hates me now.”
“No, she is scared of you. There is a difference. She realizes what value your life is even more.”
“I hate it,” I whisper. “I don’t want it.”
“I’m sorry, but not even I can change that.” He closes his eyes briefly, then looks back at me, and I see it in his gaze before he says the words. “It has been a pleasure knowing you, little fighter. You showed me things no one else ever could.” He leans down and touches his lips to mine. It’s a soft and tender kiss, and when I pull back, Grim looks over my shoulder. I follow his gaze to see Max standing there, watching me intently. In the next blink, he’s gone.
I shove Grim’s hand away. “Did you know he would come?” I ask, stepping back.
“Yes,” and then he’s gone too. My hands start to sweat, nerves take hold as I think where I should be.
I think of Max and where I want to be, and I am suddenly standing in front of him. He’s pacing back and forth, with his people as they set up in tents as the night falls.
Max stops when he spots me. “You let him kiss you,” he growls. “Touch you,” he says through his teeth.
“He was saying goodbye,” I tell him.
“He will never say goodbye, not to someone like you.”
“What’s that meant to mean?”
He waves his hand in the air. “We buried Levy,” he says. “I didn’t know she did that. How could you think, after what we did, I would not want you with me?”
“I forgot what she could do. I just…” I shake my head, not knowing how to answer him. I feel so ridiculous to have thought he’d treat me that way. “I didn’t know.”
“I would never tell you to go, Talia. Ever.” He reaches for me and lifts me up effortlessly into his arms. Holding me tightly to him, I wrap my legs firmly around his waist.
“You are mine, for now, and forever. And if Death thinks he has a chance, I’ll introduce him to his own untimely demise,” he says before his lips find mine. He kisses me passionately, and it takes my breath away.
I hate to compare the two.
But I do.
Grim kisses me slowly, more deliberate.
Max kisses me with a force so intense that I know every need he has is primal, and he wants every piece of me.
Even the bad.
When I’m in Max’s arms, he helps me forget all the little things, and I can’t say that I don’t turn to mush beneath his touch. He starts walking with me, not breaking the kiss and gripping hold for dear life. He doesn’t let me go until he lowers himself to the ground and slowly puts me down, so he is on his knees, hovering above me.
“I need you. I need to claim you.” His words are unsure, like he’s afraid they might scare me away.
I nod my head, lift up, and pull my shirt off over my head. “I’m yours. Take me, Max.”
Not wasting any time, he grabs my hips, tugging my pants down, stripping me bare. His chest rumbles as he looks at me writhing before him, needing more of his touch and feeling entirely on display. Pressing another kiss to my lips, he turns me over, so I’m on my hands and knees. Then he slaps my ass. He does it once, then twice, before his next slap lands on my pussy. I am wet for him and know full well that I would let him take me or, as he so accurately puts it, claim me any time and anywhere he wanted.
“This sweet, sweet cunt is mine. Isn’t it, pretty?”
His fingers slide between my ass cheeks until they reach my pussy, where he pushes a finger inside me while his other fingers play with my clit. I’m ready for him and push back into his hand, hearing my wetness as I go. He groans as I fuck his fingers. I can’t stop, my rhythm picking up, and just as I feel myself build, he pulls away. I moan loudly at the loss before he shushes me.