Heathen & Honeysuckle (Pacific Shores, #1)

by Sarah A. Bailey

“Stop looking at me like that, Honeysuckle.” His voice is rough. “Like what?” I ask, suddenly breathless. His full lips part on an inhale as his tongue snakes out to rake across them. Maybe it’s whatever I’ve been drinking, but I realize I very much want to know what that lip feels like between my teeth. “Like you’re wondering what a piece of my soul feels like.”

She bites her lip, hiding the smile I know she wants to take over her face. On instinct, I find my hand on her chin, my thumb tugging on that lower lip and removing it from her teeth. “Don’t ever hide your smiles from me, Honeysuckle. I need to see every single one, especially the ones I put there.” I move my hand to cup her cheek. “Show me every smile, and I’ll do whatever you want, yeah?”

There can’t ever truly be friendship between us, because Darby and I were once intertwined stars. At one time, we burst with light, threading through each other and forging together, though, in reality, we were both dying suns. Now, there’s nothing left of us but stardust floating through the cosmos in the dark.

“You taste like honey,” he rasps. I hum against his mouth. “You taste like corruption.”

“You’re the best kind of bad boy because you’ve got a good soul.”

“I think I might wait my whole life for you to come back, Darby. Something tells me there would be no point in trying to move on from this, because I’d end up searching for you in every place I go, in every person I meet, aimlessly wandering until I find you again.”

“I think there is a difference between love and infatuation. Infatuation is dangerous. Obsessive. Toxic, like holding matches when you’re covered in gasoline. You know you’re going to destroy yourself—destroy each other—but you do it anyway, just because you wonder what the burn feels like.”

“God, Leo,” I whimper. Long lashes flutter upward, blue eyes blazing through me. “I’ve never been much of a believer, baby.” He presses a kiss to my center. “But fuck, I’ll gladly kneel before you, worship at your altar.” I feel his lips move along my inner thigh as he whispers, “Pray for the salvation that can only be found between your legs.”

Hi, daddy issues? It’s me, Darby.

“But it was…it was real. It was raw. It was...” I shake my head. “We’ve only been back in each other’s lives for a number of days after years of silence.” My chest heaves against his through my panting breath. “How is this feeling so strong again so soon?” The smile that spreads across his face is blazing and beautiful. “That’s because this is meant to be, Honeysuckle.”