Aria's POV
He held my gaze for a long moment, as if he were carving those words into his bones.
Then I watched something in his eyes shift—that protective tenderness sinking away, inch by inch, and burning into something else. Hotter. Deeper. More dangerous.
His thumb brushed across my lower lip, and his voice dropped low and rough.
"Do you know what it does to me," he murmured, "when you say things like that?"
I shook my head, my pulse hammering against my ears.
He leaned in, his breath ghosting over the shell of my ear.
"I want you."
His mouth was on mine before I could breathe.
The kiss started slow. Tender. His lips moved against mine like he was savoring me, like I was something precious he couldn't get enough of.
But tenderness never lasted long with D
