Page 131 of Lost to Thievery
When I looked up, silent tears were streaming down his face. “Gray…” I reached up and wiped them away.
He tried to say something, but his face twisted in pain. His hands were trembling as he brought them to my face. “Just…just give me tonight. Then I’ll take you back to him. One more night, baby.Please.”
Another sob broke from my chest. This man… “I made my choice. I chose you.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
His eyes fell closed with relief, his breath coming out in a woosh. Another tear slipped over his cheek as he shook his head. “But it’s killing you, Princess. You love him. I can’t just sit by and watch you hurt like this. Not again. Not because of me. I’ll go get him. I’ll throw him in a cage if I have to. Then you don’t have to choose.”
A broken laugh spilled out of me. “You would share me with Owen?” It was an absurd idea. Owen would rather die.
“I was ready to lose you to him. I thought I had. And I accepted it. So sharing you with the pup doesn’t seem so impossible anymore. If that is what you want, if it’ll make you happy, I can do it.”
Gods, I loved this man so much, it hurt.
I kissed him lightly, pulling my fingers through his hair, chuckling against his lips through the tears.
He tightened his hold on me, pulling me closer as if he was afraid that I could slip through his fingers if he didn’t hold on tight enough.
“That is the sweetest thing you have ever said to me, Gray. But I chose this. I choose you.” It broke my heart, but it was true. Even if I had to do it again, my choice wouldn’t change.
I brushed a finger over the stubble on his chin, my own chin trembling. “I havemissedyou, Grayson Varon, more than words couldeverexpress.”
He lowered his forehead to mine, brushing a hand over my tangled hair. “I know, mybeautifulprincess. I know how impossible every day was. I couldn’t breathe either. I couldn’t fucking breathe.”
My heart squeezed.
Yes. It finally felt like I could inhale air freely again. The tightness in my chest that’d been strangling my lungs was gone.
Grayson’s arms around me, his body against me, felt so good, so right.
But I needed more. I needed to bridge that hole that still gaped between us. I needed tofeelthat he was mine, truly mine, before I gave him my everything again. Before I recklessly dove back into his madness. It might already be too late, but I first needed to know he was mine. Completely, utterly, to the brink of fucking insanity—the same way I was his. In the same way that drove me to burn down my life, my friendships, my lover. Just to touch him. To experience him, and the mess he made of me. How his hands can make my whole body tremble when he traced the curve of my spine. I longed for that zing of electricity that erupted between us, that made me weak, when he showed me just how much I belonged to him. It was stupid and it was reckless and maddening, but I neededhimto feel whole again. I had been ripped in two, all this time and he, the thief who had stolen my soul, was the only one who could put me back together.
“Gray?”
He let out a soft sigh, brushing his lips against the top of my cheek. “Hmm?”
“Make it better.” I swallowed. “Make me feel good again.”
He inhaled a shattering breath, a shudder rippling through his body. His eyes burrowed into me, the longing in them suffocating me, stoking the fires in my soul. “Yes, baby. Let me make this right.”
His lips crashed against mine, demanding, possessive, forcing my attention to him and only him. Drowning out the rest of the world, till there was nothing but the burning between us.
He lifted me off the floor and wrapped my legs around his torso. He walked us into the shower, fully clothed and pressed me up against the wall. The warm water spilled over us, shrouding us in wafts of steam.
My heart was beating frantically, in sync with Grayson’s as he kissed me. He kissed me with such hunger it melted away the hurt, the cold that had frosted over my heart.
We hurriedly peeled the clothes off each other, desperate to finally have nothing between us.
When our bodies touched again, I sucked in a shuddering breath. Grayson moaned, pulling me tightly against him, his fingers tangling in my hair. “Fucking magic,” he murmured against my neck.
Electricity buzzed between us, heating my skin and my core. Grayson lifted his mouth to mine again, but he stopped. He pulled back, his eyes roaming over my body in awe. “Oh, you are mesmerizing, little star. You are a fucking dream, I swear to the gods.”
Butterflies scattered through me, leaving me weak and tingling. “You believe in my gods now?” I taunted breathlessly.
“Look at you, baby. How can I not.” He lifted me off the wall. “Can I take you outside? You glow brighter under the moon. I’ve missed it. Let me see your magic again, Ava.”
