Chapter 46.

CARUSO The kiss was a fever. It wasn't just lips meeting lips, it was a collision of two people who had been circling each other in the dark for months, finally crashing into the light. Nikolai tasted like whiskey and rain, a dark, intoxicating flavor that made my head spin. His hands were everywhere, one tangled in the wet hair at the nape of my neck, tilting my head back to deepen the angle, the other gripping my hip with bruising possession, pinning me to the wall. He groaned low in his throat, a vibration that I felt in my own chest. It was a sound of pure, unadulterated hunger. I knew he was hurt. I knew the stitches on his side were fresh and fragile, barely holding his skin together. I knew I should be the responsible one; I should push him away and tell him to stop, but I couldn't. My hands, which had started on his chest to push him back, had betrayed me. My fingers were curled into the bare, hot skin of his shoulders, pulling him closer, anchoring myself to him as the world