King of Pride

“I’m never going to stop being me, Kai, and I don’t want you to stop being you. So how can we be together when we belong to separate worlds?”

“By building one of our own,” I said simply.

“That’s unreasonable.”

“I don’t care. This isn’t about reason. It’s about love, and there’s nothing reasonable about love.”

thumb against my swollen clit.

Tiny bursts of fireworks erupted beneath my skin. Low, rhythmic

Shut up and let me kiss you.

Shut up and let me kiss you.

was normally a stickler for finishing what I started, but hours later, when we lay sweaty and satiated in my bed, I didn’t care that we’d left dirty plates and a half-finished game of Scrabble in the living room.

After all, we had the rest of our lives to finish it.

I’d broken up with him because I was afraid of change. I’d prided myself on being bold and adventurous when really, I was a fucking coward who ran from rejection before rejection could find me.

I’d abandoned an evening with my books for a nightclub, for Christ’s sake. If that wasn’t a sign of my irreversible spiral, nothing was.

I’ve always prided myself on being the best. I had to be number one. I had to win. I collected prizes and awards because I saw them as a reflection of my self-worth, and I thought nothing tasted better than victory. Then I met you.” I swallowed the emotion burning in my throat. “And everything else…faded. We’ve been through some dark times, but you were always the brightest part of my life. Even when we broke up. Even when I walked out. Just knowing you existed somewhere in this world was enough.”

Isabella pressed a fist to her mouth, her eyes glossy in the silver light.

“I never really lived before you,” I said. “And I don’t want to imagine living after you.” I dropped my forehead to hers, my chest aching with need and want and a thousand other emotions only she could make me feel. “Stay with me, love. Please.”

“I love you, Isabella Valencia.” Simple and raw, stripped of all pretense except for the naked truth that had been staring me in the face all this time. “Every single part of you, from your laugh to your humor to the way you can’t stop talking about condoms.”

One of those laughs I loved so much slipped out, thick with emotion.

A smile flashed across my face before I sobered again. “You think you’re broken, but I wish you could see yourself the way I see you. Smart. Strong. Beautiful. Imperfect by your own standards but so wonderfully perfect for me.”

A fresh tear streaked down Isabella’s cheek. Unlike her earlier sobs, this one was silent, but it seared through me all the same.

I’d never fallen in love before her. Once I did, I did it the way I did everything else. Completely. Totally. Irrevocably.

She was everything I shouldn’t want, but it didn’t matter.

I wanted her anyway. So much so, I couldn’t breathe.