Hooked (Never After, #1)

by Emily McIntire

underneath our weight. “I am not a good man.” “I know,” she breathes. “I have tortured.” I dip my lips down, brushing them against her neck. “I have killed.” Lifting her shirt with my free hand, my fingers skim up her side, my mouth tasting her collarbone, then trailing over the swells of her breasts. “And I’ll do both again, without ever regretting a thing. I enjoy them.” Her legs tighten around my hips. My hand releases her wrists, moving to cup her face, her skin soft beneath the pads of my fingers. My chest twists as my heart bangs against my ribs. “But I regret, with every fiber of my being, that for even one moment you suffered under my hands.” Her eyes widen, the beautiful shades of brown glossing over. “You are, without a doubt, the only good I’ve ever known.” I rest my forehead on hers, my shaky breaths ghosting across her lips, my thumb rubbing against her cheek. “So don’t lie to me, Wendy darling. Because my heart won’t survive it if you do.”

“I haven’t been with Moira, or any other woman, since the moment I touched you.” I blow out a deep breath, my stomach slowly unraveling from where it’s tied itself into knots. “Okay.” His lips twitch. “Alright.” “Okay,” I say again. “And just so we’re clear.” He presses his thumb into my chin. “If someone else touches you, I’ll cut off their hands so they can never touch anything again.” My chest spasms. “You’re so violent.” He grins. “It’s just who I am, darling.”

“You want to watch the world burn?” “Let me guess, you’ll set it on fire?” I ask. He chuckles, the sound vibrating through me and settling into my bones. “No, darling. I’ll hand you the match and stand at your back, watching you become queen of the ashes.”

“Darling, if I’m the dark, then you’re the stars.”