Bleed For Me (Loved By Gods #1)(24)

He kissed her. Hard. Deep. His tongue plunged past her lips, claimed her mouth, left her hungry and aching.

“I want you,” he rasped as his head lifted. “Every time I see you, every time I smell your sweet scent, I want you.”

But wanting wasn’t enough. Not enough for an eternity. “And what happens when you stop wanting me? When you grow tired of me?” He’d leave her. She’d go back to the darkness.

“I’ll never grow tired of you. Never.”

Terese shook her head. “It won’t work—”

“Do you want me?” he asked her softly, cutting through her words.

Helplessly, she nodded.

“Do you—do you care for me?”

Care for him? Care didn’t even begin to cover how she felt, and that was why she couldn’t stay with him. With every moment she spent with him, her feelings grew. Soon, very soon, she’d be in too deep. When he left—

“I love you, Terese.”

“Wh-what?” No, no, surely he hadn’t just said—

His gaze held hers. “I’ve fought for you. Killed for you. Did you ever wonder why?”

She could only stare at him, stunned.

He smiled. “I don’t normally go around offering to spend the rest of my very long life with women I just want.”

He loved her. “Y-you deserve more. Someone who is whole, someone—”

Anger flashed in his gaze. “You are whole.”

“Someone who can walk in the light with you—”

“You can.”

“Only if I take your blood!”

His gaze held hers. “Don’t you understand? Can’t you see? You are my blood. My heart. My life. Everything, Terese. Everything. From the moment I first touched you.”

Desperate hope filled her. “Apollo…”

“But if you don’t want to be with me, I’ll let you go.” He stepped back, and his hands fell away. “I’m not like that sick bastard Eric. I won’t force you to stay when your heart wants to be free.”

No, no, he wasn’t like Eric. Could never be. Apollo was strong. Good. Her light. “My heart wants to be with you,” she whispered, certainty rising in her chest. “I-I love you.” She didn’t even know when she’d begun to love him. When he’d rescued her from the burning sun? When he’d healed her wounds? Given her back her art?

Or had it been that first night? When she’d looked up and seen his blue gaze watching her with hunger in that smoke filled bar?

He pulled her into his arms. Kissed her with fierce need. She realized it didn’t really matter when she’d begun to love him.

It only mattered that she did love him. That she’d love him forever.

“I want to marry you, before all the gods and goddesses in Olympus,” Apollo told her, his voice gruff with emotion.

Uh, oh…that sounded a bit scary. But she nodded. She’d do anything for him.

Her Apollo. Her sun god.

“I’ll take care of you,” he said, his mouth inches from hers. “I’ll keep you safe, love you—”

“And I’ll love you.” A grin spread across her face. “In darkness…and in light,” Terese vowed.

He laughed softly and lowered her onto the soft sand.

Yes…in darkness and in light.

Forever.

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