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Excerpt from THE SWEETEST BURN by Jeaniene Frost
I began to hike up my dress as I resumed
walking. Adrian watched with interest until I reached the straps around my
upper thighs. I gave him a censuring look as I pulled out my cell phone. No, I
wasn’t flashing him. I had to give Costa and Jasmine a heads-up that they
needed to start packing. Poor Costa. He’d taken me and my sister in because we
couldn’t return to our old house—or our old lives—after I’d decimated a demon
realm rescuing Jasmine. Now, Costa would be forced to leave his own home, and I
had no idea where any of us would go.
But when I looked
at my phone, I let out a groan. The front of it was smashed so badly, I could
see the plastic casing behind it. Memories of the minion’s fists explained how
that had happened. My ribs hadn’t been the only thing he’d bashed as he’d
tried to kill me.
“Do you have a phone?” I asked, breaking
my new silence.
His mouth tightened. “No.”
“Who goes anywhere without a cell
phone?” I muttered.
Adrian’s features closed off, as if this
was somehow a sore subject. “I’ve been having issues with mine.”
We walked in silence for several
moments. The sun was almost fully up, and I felt bad for Brutus flying in those
rays while taking the demon far out over the ocean, even though I was ticked
at Brutus for sneaking behind my back to see Adrian.
“Do you know the worst part of staying
away from you these past months?” Adrian asked. “I thought it would be remembering
everything that had happened between us, but instead, it was thinking of
everything we didn’t do.”
I still
said nothing. If he’d missed me so much, ignoring me for months was a real
unique way of showing it.
He
moved closer, until his big body blocked the wind. I still didn’t look up at
him, but kept staring straight ahead as if I could will myself back at Costa’s
with sheer mind power.
“I
showed you terrible places when I should have shown you beautiful ones,” he
went on, his voice deepening. “Told you horrible details about my past instead
of letting you get to know the person I’d become, and I taught you how to wield
that slingshot instead of teaching you a thousand different things that we
would’ve enjoyed much, much more.”
The way
his voice caressed that last part made his meaning explicitly clear. Surprise
combined with a rush of heat as a treacherous part of myself started imagining
what those things might have been. My lack of experience meant I didn’t have a
lot to go on, but my mind seemed up to improvising. Then, with a mental slap, I
forced those thoughts back.
“Too
late now,” I said in a crisp tone.
Adrian
caught me to him, his hands closing like warm steel bands around my arms.
“Ivy, listen. When we met, I didn’t think I could beat my fate.
That’s why I kept pushing you
away, why I didn’t tell you who I was at first and why I didn’t tell you what I
felt until, yes, it was almost too late. But it’s not too late.” He stared at
me until his gaze felt almost palpable with his intensity. “I know what I feel
for you, and it’s stronger than any destiny. I told you the last time I saw you
that I’d make you believe in us again. I meant that, and regardless of how mad
you are at me, if you had a hard time resisting me when I was fighting my
feelings for you…you won’t stand a chance now that I’m not.”My jaw dropped as pride chased away the
dangerous warmth that had caused me to sway the tiniest bit closer to him. I’d
practically thrown myself at him the last time circumstances had forced us to
spend time together, and what had that gotten me? Betrayed and dumped. Damned
if I’d let history repeat itself.
