Citadel (Kindled #5)

by Claire Kent

“Del! Del, are you okay?” Breanna sounds frightened. She must have heard me squeal. I’m hanging from a fucking cliff like a damsel in distress from an old story. It would be ridiculous if I weren’t paralyzed by fear.

He grabs my face with both his hands and bends down far enough to kiss me. It’s not what I’ve ever imagined for my first kiss. It’s not soft or gentle or sweet or careful. It’s hard. Hard and insistent and urgent—like he needs it desperately. Like water. Or breath.

“No one is as good or strong or brave or righteous as we’d like to be. I think we’re all a little bit broken.”

You’ve been trying to build a life for yourself, and you did the best you could with what was available. I’ve just been running. Nothing but running. If I thought I could have had a life, it always would have been with you.”