Her gaze moves between us. "What I want to know is how Talon feels about it. After that, I want to know what you really feel too."
"I want you," Talon says, the words dragged out of him like they cost something. "You know I want you."
"I don't know that, actually."
He nods, accepting it. "I stayed away because after what happened… I was hooked. Addicted. Couldn't stop thinking about you. Dreaming about you. Smelling you everywhere."
She swallows, her cheeks flushing.
Jesus. Even I feel that one.
Then she turns to me.
My pulse kicks hard, like my body knows what's coming before my brain catches up.
She moves toward me slowly, deliberately, each step measured. Giving me time to pull back. To stop this.
I don't move. I can't.
"And you?" she asks, voice low. "Do you really think I should go?"
Say yes.
End it.
Do the right thing for once.
My throat is dry. I open my mouth, ready to push her away like I always do.
But nothing comes out.
Because it's a lie.
And I can't say it.
"I don't think there's a single universe where I don't want you."
A slow smile spreads across her lips.
CHAPTER 31
Sierra
Iexpect one of two things when I lay down the gauntlet.
Either Reid jerks back to himself and retreats, taking off like the hounds of hell are on his heels. Or he grabs my hair, drags me in to him, and kisses me senseless.
He’s done both before. After arguments, we either burned it out of our systems in raw, reckless heat, or he disappeared and shut me out for days, leaving me aching and furious in equal measure.
But he does neither of those things now. For a long moment, he just stands there, his breathing rough and uneven. His eyes are fixed on me, and there’s something in them I’ve only ever read about—hunger stretched too thin, like a man who’s been starving for far too long and finally sees food within reach.
It’s almost unhinged, and yet when his hand finally lifts, it trembles slightly before settling against my cheek, gentle in complete contradiction to everything in his gaze.
“Sierra,” he whispers, the word dragged out of him.
“Yeah?” I answer, softer than I mean to.
His mouth opens like he’s searching for something else to say, something that matters more—but nothing comes. Instead, he repeats it, voice rougher now. “Sierra.”