Origin (Lux #4)(86)

“Really?” he said in a low voice. “I think the whole mutating-you thing was my fault.”

“It was either that or let me die. So you saved my life. You didn’t ruin it.”

He shook his head, sending the short, dark waves across his forehead. “I should’ve kept you away since the beginning. I should’ve kept you safe so you never ended up getting hurt in the first place.”

My heart ached at his words. “Listen to me, Daemon. This isn’t your fault. I wouldn’t change a damn thing. Okay? Yes, things have sucked, but I’d go through it all again if I had to. There are things I would want to change, but not you—never you. I love you. That’s never going to change.”

His lips parted on a sharp inhale. “Say it again.”

I smoothed the pad of my finger over his lower lip. “I love you.”

He nipped at my finger. “The other words, too.”

Leaning down, I pressed a kiss to the tip of his nose. “I love you. That’s never going to change.”

He slid his hands up my back, one stopping just below my shoulder blade and the other cupping the nape of my neck as his eyes searched mine. “I want you to be happy, Kitten.”

“I am happy,” I said, tracing my fingers over the curve of his cheek. “You make me happy.”

His chin lowered, and he pressed his lips to the tips of each of my fingers. Under and all around me, his muscles tensed, and then he placed his mouth to my ear and whispered in a deep voice, “I want to make you really happy.”

My heart fluttered. “Really happy?”

He dropped his hands to my outer thighs, his long fingers slipping under the material. “Exceedingly, insanely happy.”

I was breathless. “There you go again with the adverbs.”

His hands inched up, causing heat to flood my body. “You love it when I whip out the adverbs.”

“Maybe.”

He trailed his lips in a hot line down my throat. “Let me make you exceedingly, insanely happy, Kat.”

“Now?” My voice came out an embarrassing squawk.

“Now,” he growled.

I thought about all the people inside the house, but then his lips were on mine, and it felt like forever since he’d kissed me. His hand moved into my hair as the kiss deepened, our breaths mingling. He dropped his arm around my waist, and then he was standing, and my legs were wrapped around his hips.

“I love you, Kitten.” Another deep, scorching kiss lit up my insides. “And I’m going to show you just how much I love you.”





Chapter 24


Daemon


My arms tightened around her as I waited for her answer. Not that I really believed she’d turn me down. It wasn’t about that. I wanted to make sure she was ready after everything. Last time, she hadn’t been ready, and it hadn’t just been the headlights. If she wasn’t, it’d be okay. Holding her all night would be just as amazing.

But I’d need a cold and really long shower.

Because having her in my lap, with the softest part of her pressed against the hardest part of me, was testing my self-control and had me turned on like no one in and beyond this world could.

Kat lifted her chin, her eyes locking with mine. Everything I needed to see, needed to believe in was in her eyes. “Yes.”

I wasted no time after hearing that one little word. Doing this, being with her in every way that I could, wouldn’t replace all the terrible things that had happened, but it was a start.

“Hold on,” I told her, and then I captured her breathy response with a kiss.

She circled her arms around my neck as I gripped her hips. As I stood, her legs clamped down on me, and I bit back a groan. Surprised by the fact that I was even attempting to make it to a bed, I never took my mouth off hers. Kissing her. Drinking her in. It wasn’t enough, could never be enough.

I carried her into the house and through the many useless rooms that would never, ever end, it seemed. She giggled against my mouth when I bumped into something that probably cost a small fortune. I found the stairs, climbed them without breaking both our necks, and found the bedroom I’d deposited our stuff in earlier.

Kat reached out, slapping at the air until she found the edge of the door and closed it behind us, just as I caught her lower lip with my teeth. A little nip, and the sound she made boiled my blood. I was going to combust before anything got started.

I turned us toward the bed, lifting my mouth from her warm lips. I wanted to strip the sheets and comforter and find richer, suppler coverings that were worthy of Kat.

She pressed a hot little kiss against my pounding pulse.

Screw finding better sheets.

I placed her down on the bed, moving slower than my body demanded. She sent me a tiny smile, and my heart turned over in my chest as I knelt on my knees before her. Our eyes locked.

My pulse pounded fast, feeling it in every part of my body. “I don’t deserve you.” The words came out before I could stop them. They were the truth. Kat deserved the world and then some.

Leaning forward, she placed her hand on my cheek, and I felt the touch through every cell in my body. “You deserve everything,” she said.

I turned my head, kissing her palm. So many words came to the tip of my tongue, but when she stood and reached down, hooking her fingers under the hem of her dress, my heart stopped, and the words died in the silence between us.