Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 148238 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 741(@200wpm)___ 593(@250wpm)___ 494(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 148238 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 741(@200wpm)___ 593(@250wpm)___ 494(@300wpm)
The fire that’d brutalized my skin now lived inside me. Vengeance. I never knew what it felt like before, but now I did. I wanted revenge on Arthur “Kill” Killian. I wanted to shove what he’d made me become in his face so he would never ever forget me.
Arching my chin, I seethed, “Fine. It’s more than he ever gave me.”
The sharp intake of breath and the soft clinking of a heart breaking came from behind. I didn’t turn. I was done with him.
“Strip, lovely girl. Show me everything you are and I’ll make you mine.” Mr. Steel backed away, his touch still freezing my cheek like a permanent mark.
Tension sprang into the cabin. Billowing heat and intensity came from behind me from Kill. My eyes narrowed as the scent of lust sprang into the air.
My muscles locked.
If I did this, I would willingly hand myself over to the devil. If I did this, I would turn my back on Sarah, on Buttercup, on every single thing I’d fought so hard to remember. I would say good-bye once and for all to the boy I’d once loved in my nightmares.
I’ll never wake up from this.
Balling my hands, I looked over my shoulder at Kill. He looked ruined—destroyed—a shadow of the biker lord who’d kissed me so savagely.
My heart hurt to see him in pieces. Then fortified to know I’d won.
Gritting my teeth, I slid my hands beneath my red curls and tugged at the bikini strings. The triangles of gold sprang away, dangling down my stomach as I reached behind my back and unsecured the rest.
Kill sucked in a ragged breath. “Sarah—”
I tensed, never looking at him. “My name isn’t Sarah anymore.”
His lips turned white and the look of absolute regret in his eyes almost undid me.
Almost.
Mr. Steel smiled wilder. “Good girl. And the rest.”
My hands fell from my back, landing on the ties on my hips. A patch of sunlight drenched me in rays and warmth, spilling through the circular window.
Don’t!
What are you doing?
This wasn’t me. This vengeful hate. It wasn’t true, barely hiding the agony and betrayal I felt beneath. But I’d gone too far. I—
“Sarah… stop—” The blatant begging in Kill’s tone tore my eyes to his. The pain in his gaze shoved the dagger the final inch into my heart, killing me for eternity. He never looked at my naked chest, pouring his confusion into soul.
Tension thickened.
Hearts raced.
Lips parted.
I waited for him to fight for me. I waited for him to apologize and admit to everything.
But the weakness inside dropped his eyes, the despair smothering him completely.
Art.
“Do it,” Mr. Steel ordered, breaking our fragile trance.
My fingers looped around the bikini ties.
My fingers tugged.
My fingers shook.
But I didn’t have the courage to pull them apart.
Kill’s eyes came back up, his mouth twisted with sorrow. Darkness from both sides tried to devour me, but light streamed over me like a sparkling waterfall. Golden rays dappled my body as my fingers pulled… tighter and tighter… so close to untethering the final bows that hid my decency.
Then something happened.
Something I didn’t understand.
Kill’s eyes fell from mine, licking my body with everything he felt and couldn’t say. My nipples pebbled; my core grew wet with the shameless lust on his face. But there was something more.
Something so much more.
His eyes latched onto my hipbone, directed by the spotlight of sunshine.
A look of utter horror crossed his features.
A cry fell from his lips.
His body crumbled in on itself like an earthquake ravaged building, stumbling to one knee.
His soul fractured, glowing brokenly on his face.
Then joy.
Sheer blinding building joy.
In an instant, he pushed upright and grabbed me in his embrace. I couldn’t speak or breathe or ask what the hell had happened. His body shook and rattled as he crushed me to him—giving me everything he’d kept locked away in one simple hug.
Shivers and trembles erupted over my skin. His touch was everything I’d wanted—a harbor in this sea of craziness. What did this mean?
Uncertainty bubbled in my chest, churning with tears.
Then he pushed me away, his large hand splaying over my sternum and bending me further into the sunlight.
His unsaid emotions waked and eddied around us as I struggled in his hold. “What—what are you doing?”
Mr. Steel ceased to exist. The yacht was no longer our location. Kill had stolen me into his own world with one possessive hold.
His breathing was ragged. Ignoring me, he fixated on my hip.
His head bowed over my body, his long hair sweeping forward and tickling my naked cleavage as his lips moved silently.
Then my world ended as his green eyes met mine, only this time there was no confusion.
No despair.
No anger.
Only belief.
Blazing belief that humbled and terrified me.
His lips parted, sucking in a tattered heavy breath. He no longer looked at me like a brutish biker but like a lover who’d found his precious ever after.