Book 15: Show Me Your Power

Marianna

I wait for Blake to step out of my embrace. I’ll let him. It’s his choice to make, even if my fingers curl into his shirt, bunching the fabric.

His lips are heavy and full against mine, but they part, and he exhales deeply, trembling as his hand travels up my back to clutch the back of my neck.

“You’re doing this because you feel like you have to,” he says grimly, but heat laces through the words.

“No,” I whisper, opening my eyes. His face comes into view as I look up, searching his gaze. “Blake, I… I wish I could go back and change everything. I would have–I would have let you in.”

He shakes his head but kisses me again, harder this time, putting his whole body into it like this is the last time we’ll do this. He backs me against the wall in the entryway of his apartment, bracing his forearm just above my head. My hands travel down his chest and stomach before holding against his belt loops, and the kiss ends once more, leavin