Page 242 of Venom Sweeter than Honey
Still, tendrils of fear and panic that he’ll no longer want me sink their talons into me?—
The rasp of his deep voice cuts my thoughts short.
“How long was I gone for?”
I fail to hide the tremor in my voice.
“Sixty seconds, perhaps..."
He huffs something vaguely reminiscent of a laugh.
Sniffles.
Buries his fingers in his eyes as his lips tremble.
“Gods, if you had told me I was gone for an eon, I would believe you.”
Empathy and worry send me kneeling at his feet, grasping his hands.
“I know it’s a lot to take in?—”
A wet chuckle cuts me off as he swipes away his tears. “That is, without a doubt, the greatest understatement ever spoken.”
I gulp, but remain unremorseful. “It was the only way.”
He nods, squeezes my hands in reassurance. “Probably, yes.”
My heart squeezes with hope at that one small gesture. “I’m sorry.”
The soft rumble of his words sends relief washing through me. “I’m not.”
His gaze softens as his eyes search mine, and my heart flutters like a newly emerged butterfly breaking free of its chrysalis as my fragile hope takes flight.
Do you still want me?
As if he can read my fear, he lifts one hand from my grasp to caress my cheek with his thumb. “I love you.”
My lungs cease to breathe. The backs of my eyes burn.
My mouth forms the words, but only a small sound escapes as emotion clogs my throat.
Levi leans forward, bringing his forehead to mine, cradling my head in his hands.
“I love you for all that you are, beyond space and time. In every life you have lived, through every life you have taken or given. There is nothing you have done or can ever do to change that.”
The fact that this male has now witnessed the worst and the best of me lends the gravity of the sun to his words. There’s no denying them, or the tears that they inspire and proceed to spill down my cheeks.
My reply is an unintelligible, wet, garbled, “I loveyou.”
Levi gifts me one of those rare smiles just before he captures my mouth with his and my heart bursts like the birth of a star. My tongue meets his, the fighting leathers on my body disappear in a mist of black and gray whorls. The sensation of his magic kissing my skin sends goosebumps erupting.
My heart, pounding.
My cock, thickening.
Levi’s capable hands are already guiding me onto the bed as he murmurs against my lips.
“Lay down.”
