Page 150 of The Heart Breaker

Her eyes flick back to mine, hurt and scared in a way I’ve never seen from her before. “What if you don’t say it back?”

I slide my hand down her arm and lace my fingers through hers, my thumb moving over her knuckles. “I will.”

She holds my gaze, breathing fast. “It broke my heart hearing you say you were done with me when I…” Her throat moves. “I loved you.”

My chest cracks wide open so fast it almost feels like pain.

“Loved?” I manage, because it’s the only word I can get out.

She holds my gaze, her eyes shining. “Love.”

I break apart.

That’s the only way I can explain it. My chest just cracks and opens, and before I can think of anything smart to say, before I can even catch up to what’s happening, I’ve got both hands on her face and my forehead pressed to hers because I need to touch her or I’m gonna lose my damn mind.

“Fuck,” I say, because it’s the only word I’ve got. I lift my head just enough to look at her. “Aurora…” My voice cracks on her name. I swallow and shake my head. “I love you so fucking much.”

I lean in and brush my mouth against hers, and any thought I had about taking this slow disappears the second she kisses me back. She slides her hands up around my neck, and the soft, needy sound she breathes into my mouth goes straight through me.

I’ve been without this for days, and now that I’ve got her again, I can’t make myself rush it. I kiss her slow and deep and hungry, taking my time, needing to relearn every inch of her all over again.

I kiss her until my chest aches with it, until I can feel how badly she wants me in the way her fingers tighten at the back of my neck, and all I can think is how much I missed this. Missed her. Missed having her in my hands so badly I’ve barely felt like myself without her.

When I finally pull back, we’re both breathing hard.

She looks a little dazed and breathless, and when her lips curl into the prettiest smile I’ve ever seen, it makes me want to kiss her all over again.

“You love me?” she asks, grinning so hard it pulls a laugh out of me.

I nod, my thumb tracing over her cheek. “More than I ever thought possible. Didn’t think I had room in my heart for anyone but my sister.” I grin and tug lightly on her bottom lip with my thumb. “But you bit your way in anyway, like the little viper you are.”

Her lashes flutter when I kiss the corner of her mouth, and she smiles against me, so damn pretty it makes my chest pull tight.

I still don’t know how I’m going to get Sophie back. I still don’t know how long any of that is going to take, or how ugly it’s going to get before it’s over. But I know now I was wrong to think I had to choose. Wrong to think loving Aurora meant I was failing my sister.

I can have both.

And with Aurora smiling up at me like that, it feels a whole lot easier to believe everything might actually be okay.

40

AURORA

The door slams behind us, and the second it does, my hands are in his hair and his mouth is on mine.

He kisses me like he’s been holding back the entire drive home and finally snapped, his hands locking on my waist as he yanks me flush against him. I can feel the full, thick length of him, already straining in his pants.

I catch his bottom lip between my teeth just hard enough to make him groan, and then his hands are under me, grabbing my thighs and lifting me like I weigh nothing. My legs wrap around his waist on instinct, and I can’t stop smiling as I bite his lip again because he’s muttering curses under his breath like I’m driving him out of his mind.

His hands slide to my ass over my dress, squeezing hard enough to make me gasp into his mouth, and that only makes him kiss me harder, like he’s trying to crawl inside of me.

“I was trying to take this slow,” he growls against my throat, dragging his teeth over my skin before he sucks at the spot under my ear.

A moan slips out of me, and I tilt my head back to give him more. “Fuck slow.”

He laughs against my neck and then drops me onto the bed. I bounce against the mattress and push up on my elbows just in time to watch him step back and drag his shirt over his head. My eyes drop immediately to his tattooed chest.

God, this man is unfairly hot.