Don't You Dare (Reckless Games #1)

by C.E. Ricci

Nicotine might be my vice of choice, but that’s all changing with his lips on mine. Barely a goddamn taste of him has me reeling, ready to trade my soul for more.

“I want you. So much, I can’t think. Can’t breathe. I can’t do anything but want you.”

“You already have me.”

“I’ll never hurt you,” he murmurs, teeth

scraping against my shoulder. “I’d rather die.”

And I don’t have it in me to tell him that he’s already hurting me. He fucking hurts me with every touch, look, or kiss, painting an impossible picture in my brain.

You’re the unexpected inevitable.

Soft and warm and home and Keene.

“I dare you to let me love you the way you deserve to be loved. Wholly. Completely. And out in the open, where the world can see.” My throat constricts around the words, but I continue to push them out anyway. “I love you. I’m so stupidly in love with you. And I dare you to love me too.”

“You’re the thing I can’t live without, and I’ll wait for, fight for, and chase you to the ends of the fucking Earth to prove it to you. So please, just tell me you’ll give me another chance. Please tell me I haven’t fucked up enough to lose the one person on this planet that was made for me, and me alone, to love.”

In that moment, I realized no corner of my mind would ever be far enough away to completely erase the love I have for him.

Because I’m giving you the power to hurt me all over again, and I wanna know my heart is safe with you.”