Darkest Sins (Perfectly Imperfect #9)

There’s a slight trembling in my fingers as I lift my hands and gently cradle her face with my palms. I stroke the skin under her eyes with my thumbs, then run them along the line of her eyebrows, and nose. Stealing. Stealing touches that weren’t offered to me. I brush her cheeks with my knuckles, feeling the delicate texture of her flawless skin. So soft. Softer than anything I’ve ever touched. And now, I’m tainting it with the killer’s hands. I want to kiss her so damn much. And more. I want her to be mine, body and soul. My tiger cub. My twinkling star. Am I really selfish enough to drag her into my darkness? I can’t. Could never do it. Never.

But I’m taking the kiss that she offered. For someone like me, it’s more than I deserve.

A small yelp leaves her lips when I grab under her thighs and lift her onto the counter. Seizing her chin, I tilt her head and capture her eyes, wide and gleaming, with my own.

“Another piece of you, mine now,” I growl. “You can’t have it back.”

I slam my mouth to hers. Hard. Taking. Claiming every inch of her lips and mouth all at once.Mine!Her breath, mixed with the air from my lungs. I inhale it, drawing it into myself.Mine!Her small teeth bite my lower lip. I nip her back. The warmth of her palms seeps through the fabric of my still-damp shirt as she squeezes my upper arms. It feels as if she’s singeing my skin. Another bite, more ferocious this time. I reciprocate. Wanting more. So, so much more. I want all of her. Not want—need. Like air. Like the blood flowing through my veins. Each beat of my heart, it’s hers. For nearly a year, every cell of my being has been hers.

It might be just our lips that are touching, but she has etched herself onto my soul. I kiss her again. Stealing her breath away. It feels as if I’ve been drowning, and it’s the only thing that gives me life. Again. More. Never enough.

The phone in my pocket starts vibrating. My lips go still on hers. For a fleeting moment, she made me forget what I am. She keeps kissing me, but the phone keeps ringing. Almost as if my sins are calling, wanting to be known.

“Demon?” she whispers into my lips. “Everything okay?”

I want to lay myself at her mercy, beg her to take me despite the wreck of a human being that I am. Maybe she would, but it wouldn’t be right. Because I needall of her, but in order to get it, I’d have to offerall of mein exchange. Every sin. Every dark deed. A fair trade.

I close my eyes and inhale her scent. Innocent. Untainted. She would never accept me if she knew the truth.

“I have to go, tiger cub.”

Her eyes search mine, confused but trusting. “Where?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Why?”

I caress her silky skin with the pads of my fingers, stealing yet again, then step away. “Because, there are no lies between us. Only secrets.”

I can feel her eyes on my back as I walk toward the front door. And all the while, my phone keeps ringing. My sins are eager to connect. The past. The future. And most of all, the present.

* * *

Rain beats on the windshield, distorting my view of the second window from the left on the third floor. My flight to Budapest leaves at nine, which means I have a few more hours.

I pull out my phone and go over the mission parameters once more, trying to figure out a way that would allow me to shorten the time I need to spend in Hungary. There isn’t any.

The initial plan was for me to fly there, execute the target, and head right back. Three days max. But when I returned Kruger’s call after I left Nera, he said the surveillance team in Budapest had been taken out. Before they had the chance to submit their report. This means I’ll need at least a week, probably two, to follow my target and establish his daily schedule and patterns before I can get to the kill.

Fourteen days. Two weeks without seeing my girl. I don’t know how I’ll ever survive being apart from her for so long. Short periods now, mere days, I can hardly manage. But more than that? Weeks? I might go insane. At times, I feel like I’m already dead, but then I come to see her, and it’s as if life flows backinto my soul. I live for my stolen moments with her—it’s the only thing that keeps me going.

The dashboard clock shows two a.m. I’ve spent four hours sitting here, trying to make myself leave. Couldn’t do it. I need to steal another look at her before I go. Another glimpse that I hope will preserve my sanity. So like a thief in the night, I step out of my car and hurry across the street.

The faint light steaming through the window bathes Nera’s sleeping form. She’s curled into herself, resting at the edge of the bed. Her hair is gathered at the top of her head, tangled strands sticking out of the messy bun in all directions.

Her bedroom isn’t big, perhaps only half the size of the living room, but it’s similarly decorated in tones of white and pale brown. A few red accent pieces here and there—a vase on the vanity, a knitted bed cover neatly folded atop a recliner set in the corner of the room, and several scattered beige throw pillows embroidered with poppy flowers—make the room uniquely hers. And there, hanging on the mirror above the vanity, is the red silk scarf.

My steps are muted by the thick white carpet as I head across the room and crouch by the bed, staring at the lips I tasted just hours earlier. I’m certain I haven’t made a sound, but Nera still stirs, as if she somehow felt my presence. Her eyes flutter open, and, for a few moments, she just watches me. There is no alarm or even a hint of surprise in her gaze, as if finding me next to her bed in the middle of the night is absolutely normal.

“I thought you left. What happened?”

“Nothing.” I take the edge of the blanket and tug it up, covering her exposed shoulder.

“You promised there won’t be any lies between us, demon. Only secrets.”

It amazes me sometimes, how well she knows me, while not actually knowing a single thing about me at all. “The trip I’m taking. It’ll be longer than I expected.”

She bites her lower lip. I wait for her to ask mewhy, but she just keeps gazing at me and nods.