Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 91361 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91361 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Our gazes collided, and I almost recoiled at what I saw in his eyes.
Who made you cry?
He had asked me that once, and now I wanted to ask him the same thing. Smiles didn’t always mean happiness, and the absence of tears didn’t always mean people weren’t hurting.
“Aria?” His accent was thicker than before, but more than that, his voice was slurred and I realized that he was drunk. Completely drunk.
A second later, I realized another thing.
“I missed you so damn much, Aria.”
Kellion Argyros was a talkative drunk.
His eyes were lost, but his voice was lucid.
Evil redheaded queen. Bobby had always told me she liked killing two birds with one stone, and that was exactly what she had done tonight.
All the answers I wanted were within grasp now.
All I had to do was speak.
Evil redheaded queen.
I didn’t know if I wanted to kill her or thank her.
“Aria? Is it really you?”
Kellion’s voice had me looking down at him. Belatedly, I realized how intimate our position was and again I tried to push away, pressing my fists against his chest.
He shook his head. “Never letting you go again.”
His words hurt. He sounded like he meant it, but if he did, then why?
“Promise me you won’t go.” His voice was a hoarse plea.
I bit my lip hard, unwilling to speak. I wouldn’t, couldn’t. Not after what he had done.
“You’re mad, aren’t you?” He stroked my cheek. “Sorry.” A slurred apology, but even so the emotions behind it were undeniable. Tenderness. Regret. Longing.
I squeezed my eyes shut. If I looked at him a moment longer, I was done for.
“Sorry.”
My chest started feeling tight again. Stop apologizing. Please stop.
“Never wanted to hurt you.”
So, so tight. And now it was so hard to breathe again.
“Can’t bear it. If you’re mad at me.”
“Then why?” The words were torn out of me. Whispers that hurt in more ways than one. And once I started, I realized I couldn’t stop. “Why did you suddenly disappear without saying a thing? Without explaining?” More words, more tears, burst out of me. “Why did you make me like you and then—-”
Kellion pulled my head down, his mouth covering mine, his lips swallowing the rest of what I had to say.
A kiss.
My first kiss with Kellion Argyros.
My first kiss ever.
A sliver of sanity had me struggling, but it only made Kellion kiss me harder. His tongue slid inside my mouth, bold, forbidden, warm, and thrilling. His hands started to move, cupping my face so he could kiss me more deeply. His tongue stroked against mine, his teeth nibbled on my lips, and with each moment, my resistance waned, and whatever sanity I had left disappeared.
He whispered against my lips, “Tell me again. Tell me you like me.” The words were both a plea and a temptation, and they destroyed the last few vestiges of my self-control.
“I...like...you.” It hurt to speak, but I had to. When he asked me like it would kill him if I didn’t, I knew I had to.
Kellion groaned, pulling my head back down, his lips more insistent, and his kiss rougher and sweeter. “Again,” he growled.
My toes curled at the command, and the way my body responded to the order had me dazed. Who knew? Oh, who knew I would like having a guy tell me what to do?
“Like...you.” My arms wrapped around his neck. This time, he didn’t have to make me say it. “Like you.” When my body melted against his, he jerked, and then he was kissing me harder, his hold on me tightening possessively. He groaned, the sound ragged. I moaned, the sound just as ragged.
We kissed and kissed, and even though he was intoxicated, his expertise remained, undeniably masterful as he taught me how to kiss him back with every movement of his tongue.
Deeper and deeper, I succumbed like a moth drawn to a flame. His hands started to move, and every caress had me feeling hotter and weaker until it was like I was delirious with fever, one only he could infect me with.
Dimly, I felt his fingers moving. Snap, snap, the buttons of my jumper were released, and before I knew it, his hands were inside my shirt. His fingers grazed my skin. Every part of my body that he touched burned, so, so much I wouldn’t be surprised if he left handprints all over me. Just thinking about Kellion leaving a mark on my skin had me blushing and wanting him more at the same time. Oh, who knew? Who knew I could ever want another person this way?
His hands were moving up, closer and closer to my heaving breasts. His fingers were right under them now, and my chest started to tighten. In a good and bad way, in a way that had me swallowing, gasping—-
He cupped my breasts.
My senses spiraled out of control.