Page 36 of Branded By Shadow

---

“Don’t start something you don’t want finished.”

Her eyes lift to mine in the dark.

“I’m still scared,” she whispers.

That almost kills it.

Almost.

I start to pull away.

Her fingers tighten. “Not of you.”

Everything in me goes quiet.

She says it plain. No performance. No sass.

I search her face, looking for panic. For regret. For the kind of fear that means I need to back the hell off.

I don’t find it.

I find want.

Shaky, yes.

But real.

“Talia.”

“Don’t say my name like you already decided no.”

“You know what you’re asking?”

“Yes.”

“Say it.”

Her breath catches.

Good.

She needs to know. I need to hear it.

“I want you,” she says. “I want this.”

My jaw locks.

“I want you, Jayce.”

My name in her mouth breaks something.

I kiss her.

Slow first, because I have to prove to myself I can. Her lips part under mine, and the little sound she makes goes straight through my blood.

I roll her beneath me and keep my weight on one forearm. She looks up at me, hair dark around her face, freckles soft in the light, mouth swollen, eyes wide.

Mine.

---