WICKED PARADISE | JENLISA

TWENTY-TWO

LISA
***

MY HAND CAUGHT FIRE under hers.

I looked up, bracing against her rejection.

My heart lurched with panic because her feline gaze held one chance.

A single chance to fix this.

The knowledge of what I had to do blazed through my body.

She opened her mouth to ask. The first sound of her request fell from her lips.

But I intercepted her.

I didn’t want her to ask.

I didn’t want her to think she’d made me do this.

I wanted this to be the moment where she became mine…forever. Despite what I was. Despite what I did. Despite everything I’d done to her.

Snatching her around the waist, I yanked her naked body from the bare tiles and straddled her over my lap. The harness still trapping her jingled a little as her legs spread on either side of my hips, revealing her pussy, showing that she wanted me as much as I wanted her.

My erection strained against my trousers. My heart bashed against my ribs as our bare chests touched. I could barely breathe as I dived my hands into her hair and captured her head so she had no choice but to look at me.

Her long chocolate strands puddled over my legs. Her lips parted. Her eyes flared.

And I tore off my final mask.

For her.

I gave myself no going back, no pretending I hadn’t said such a thing, no way of convincing her she’d heard wrong.

“I love you, Jennie Jinx Kim. I love you for your fire, your bravery, your stubbornness. I love that you’re not afraid of me. That you call me out on my bullshit. That you are the mirroring piece of everything that I lost along the way. I love that you are so kind to animals. That you are cursed with the same empathy I carry. That you’re a goddamn vegetarian. I love that Skittles fell for you, even though she’s the reason I lost everything I am. I lost everything because I gave it all to you the moment I saw her land on your shoulder. I love that you’re different from anyone else I’ve ever met. I love that every time we touch, we spark.”

I captured her chin, holding her firm. “I love you. That’s the curse you put on me. The reason I called you Jinx. The hex I felt the moment you stepped on my shores. And I’ll happily remain cursed for the rest of my godforsaken life if it means I get to keep you.”

She didn’t cry.

She didn’t lean in to kiss me.

She stayed staring into me, frowning slightly, letting the echo of my commitment puddle around us until we were an island in a sea of pledges and promises.

I didn’t move.

I couldn’t.

I had no other card to play. I had no idea if I would win her, and I was too chicken shit to shake her and demand a reply because as long as she sat on my lap, then I hadn’t lost her.

It didn’t matter if she refused to give me an answer for decades. I would sit here and wait. I would hold her through every sunrise and sunset and wait.

I would wait until she gave me my freedom by admitting that she loved me back.

Please…

Slowly, she moved.

I sucked in a breath as she pushed upward with her knees, dislodging my hold in her hair.

I couldn’t lie.