Chapter 29 It Was Not An Accident

• Victor’s mouth moves over mine once, twice, then again, broken kisses that feel half desperate, half disbelieving.
• I taste warmth, breath, the sharp metallic trace of blood where my thumb must have smeared it. His forehead presses briefly to mine between one kiss and the next, as if he needs to make sure I am still here. Then he kisses me again, slower now, deeper, and my fingers clutch hard at his jacket.
• A small, involuntary flinch runs through him when I shift against his injured side, and pain pulls sharply at my own ribs. Victor feels both at once. He breaks the kiss immediately, breathing harder now, not only from me.