Empire of Hate (Empire #3) by Rina Kent

Which I wouldn’t be surprised if she did.

She has always been curious, intuitive, and the smartest woman I’ve ever met.

Nicole dabs the cotton at my forehead, a delicate frown on her brows. “You’re not a kid or a teenager. How can you even get in a fight at this age? You’re a solicitor, for God’s sake, fighting shouldn’t even be one of your options.”

Her voice is like my favorite symphony and most distorted nightmare.

But no matter how much I want to close the distance between us, it’s already too deep.

Too fucked up.

You screwed it all up, Daniel. You think you have the right to touch her?

I swiftly pull the cotton from her fingers and stagger to my feet. “I’ll do it on my own.”

Her shoulders drop and her face scrunches as if I stepped on her chest.

But I don’t allow myself to look at that soft face, at the only lips I remember the taste of. For eleven years, I haven’t kissed other women, never found the reason behind it. Not after I kissed her the day her mother was arrested. In a way, I kept her taste with me until her lips found mine again on the day I fucked her in my office.

Nicole is the only woman I want to kiss until we’re both out of breath and sharing each other’s air.

Wrong train of thought, fucker.

I turn around, not bothering to take the first aid kit as I stalk to the stairs.

But before I can take a step, her brittle, broken voice stops me. “Do I repulse you?”





26





NICOLE





If hearts were able to spill free, mine would be splashing on the floor.

My fingers dig into my shawl to stop myself from reaching out to his back. Seems that’s all I ever have of Daniel.

His back.

His cold shoulder.

His ignorance.

Eleven years didn’t change that. Probably nothing will.

He slowly turns around and I physically flinch at the tightness on his face, the raw anger covering his features like a warrior’s helmet. That and the dry blood on his temple make him appear savage.

Primal, even.

“What the fuck did you just say?” The air carries his calmly-spoken words like a whip that meets my skin with a thwack.

I raise my chin, despite the pain that’s bleeding in my soul with the lethality of a poison. “Are you repulsed by me because I’m damaged goods?”

“Shut the fuck up, Nicole.”

“Tell me.” I walk to him, my speed slow and faulty like a crippled animal. “Tell me you don’t want to touch me anymore. Say it, Daniel. Just off me already so I’ll stop having these delusional thoughts about you—”

My words end in a gasp when he grabs me by the throat and slams his lips to mine. It’s a hungry kiss, animalistic in nature and with so much heat that I’ll probably suffer from second-degree burns—make that first-degree.

His fingers squeeze the sides of my neck, turning me lightheaded, and his other hand grips my chin with a possession that leaves me breathless.

He leaves me breathless.

Always has since that day I nearly died in his arms.

His lips devour mine and his tongue slips inside with the pure intention to conquer.

The magic breaks when he wrenches his mouth from mine as suddenly as he devoured me. The fire in his eyes is nothing short of lava spilling from a volcano.

“Don’t you ever, and I mean fucking ever, repeat that. You’re not damaged goods, never were and never will be. Are we clear?”

Is it wrong that I think he’s the most attractive I’ve seen him right now? Even the trail of blood on his temple makes him ruggedly handsome in a fallen angel type of way.

The one who’s able to take it all away, to give me the support I thought I didn’t need but turns out I do.

A squeeze on my throat pulls me out of the dreamy phase. “Are we clear?”

I nod.

“Use your voice.”

“Yeah. I just…thought you were repulsed by me since, well…you didn’t want to touch me.”

He slides his erection up and down my stomach, spreading a violent wave of arousal between my thighs. “Do I seem repulsed? I can be disgusted with the whole world, but never you, Peaches. Fuck. You must know what you do to me.”

“No,” I blurt. “Tell me.”

He drops his forehead on mine, briefly closing his eyes before they trap me in a shock of pure intensity. “You’re the only woman I wanted with a desperation that bordered on both pleasure and pain. The only woman who drives me fucking insane but I still can’t look away from. My fixation with you made me hate all blondes because they reminded me of you. Brunettes aren’t my type, Peaches. You are. And you know what, your condition about exclusivity is bloody useless. Ever since you came back into my life, I haven’t been able to see another woman, let alone fuck her. It’s you. Only you.”

Is it possible to have a heart attack due to happiness?

Is it possible to free fall deeper than I already was?

All the words he just said echo in my head round and round, making me dizzy, disoriented, and on my way to cloud nine.

I didn’t think I could get high on words alone.

Not any words.

Daniel’s.

I lick my dry lips. “Then…why did you vehemently refuse to be exclusive?”

His thumb strokes my cheek back and forth, like the rhythm of a soothing lullaby. “I wanted to push you away, to prove to myself that you meant nothing.”