I pulled her into my chest like I was afraid she’d disappear — like if I didn’t hold her tight enough, reality would rip her out of my arms.

And I couldn’t survive that.

Her lips touched mine, innocent and soft, and it ruined me. I felt it — that crack deep inside my chest — the snap of something breaking loose. Something I’d kept caged for too fucking long.

Her kiss was messy. Unpracticed. Sloppy.

Mine.

The word slammed through me like a drug.

She kissed like no one ever taught her — like she didn’t know how to touch and be touched — and it made my entire body ache.

She wasn’t good at it. She didn’t know what she was doing.

And yet… I was addicted.

I couldn’t stop kissing her. I didn’t want to stop. I could drown in her mouth and die happy.

I gripped her face harder than I should’ve, tilted her head just right. “Let me show you how,” I breathed against her lips, voice like gravel.

Then I devoured her.

I teased her lips with my tongue — slow at first, coaxing — until she opened for me, sweet and unaware of what she was allowing in.

“Suck,” I ordered, voice ragged.

She obeyed. And I lost my fucking mind.

I wanted to brand her. Mark her. Carve myself into her soul so no one else could ever come near. I wanted every part of her — body, heart, mind — all mine.

Forever.

When my hand slid to her ass and I dragged her against my cock, I expected her to freeze.

She didn’t.

She moaned. She clutched at me. She rubbed against me.

That sound she made? It destroyed what little control I had left. I was done pretending. Done holding back. Done acting like I could ever be normal when it came to her.

I wasn’t.

I rolled her onto her back and hovered over her, looking down at this beautiful, breakable girl who had no idea how completely she’d ruined me.

Her lips were red and swollen from my kisses. Her chest was rising and falling too fast. Her thighs spread just a little beneath me like an invitation written in blood.

“You have no idea what you’re doing to me,” I whispered, voice shaking.

I shoved her shirt up — needed to feel her — needed skin.

Her stomach was warm beneath my palm, so delicate. I wrapped my hand around her waist, just to prove I could. Just to remind myself she was here. With me. Letting me touch her. Letting me have her.

I throbbed with the need to bury myself inside her and never come out.

No one gets to see her like this.

No one gets to touch her like this.

No one gets her sounds, her taste, her body. No one but me.

She isn’t just some girl.

She’s the girl I would burn down the world for.

And the terrifying part? She doesn’t even know it.

She doesn’t see what she’s doing to me — how my brain has stopped working, how my hands are shaking with the need to claim her. To possess every last inch.

I ground myself against her — hard, desperate — and she moaned like it was heaven.

That sound?

It sealed her fate.

POV - Lara

Liam grips my thighs with an intensity that makes my breath catch. He spreads them slowly, deliberately, as if claiming territory no one else should even glance at. His eyes devour me, dark and burning, and all he does is stare.

But that look?
That look scorches.

I can feel the power in his hold, the restrained hunger pulsing off his body in waves. His chest heaves, not from exhaustion—but from the war he’s fighting inside. A war between patience and absolute possession.

“Liam…” I whisper his name like a prayer. Or maybe a warning. I’m not sure which.

He doesn’t move—just breathes—and drags a single finger along my skin. “Do you have any idea,” he murmurs, voice low and almost dangerous, “how hard it is for me not to destroy every part of you… just so I can rebuild it in my name?”

A tremble rolls through me.

He tilts his head, gaze fixed between my legs. “You’ve always been mine, Lara. But now… now I’m going to make sure even your body never forgets it.”

My breath stutters, but my body betrays me—burning, aching, craving.

“I want to ruin you for anyone else. No one’s ever touched you like this… right?” His voice sharpens with suspicion, a dark edge in his question that feels more like a demand.

“No,” I breathe.

The reaction is instant. His jaw tenses, nostrils flaring as if I just gave him the greatest gift he’s ever received. “Good,” he growls. “Because I’d lose my damn mind if I thought someone else had tasted what’s mine.”

His possessiveness swallows the room.

“I don’t want your yes,” he says suddenly, dragging his eyes up to meet mine. “I want your surrender.”

I shiver beneath his stare. “What if I’m already giving it to you?”

He leans in closer, brushing his lips near mine but not kissing me. “Not enough.”

Then he kisses me—deep, punishing, consuming. It’s not just a kiss. It’s a declaration. A warning. A claim.

When he finally pulls back, I’m breathless.

“I’m going to keep going,” he says, his voice like gravel. “Not because you begged. But because you’re mine. And I decide when you’ve had enough.”

His words linger in the air like smoke—thick, dangerous, impossible to ignore.
I decide when you’ve had enough.

I should be afraid. I should push him away.
But I don’t. I can’t. Because something inside me—something broken or maybe just his—wants this. Wants him. Wants to be consumed by him.

Liam’s fingers trace slow, merciless circles on the inside of my thigh, but it’s his eyes that pin me down more than anything. They’re unblinking. Almost… feverish.

“You have no idea what you do to me, Lara.”
His voice is hoarse, like he’s fighting to stay in control. “Every damn second I’m near you, I feel like I’m about to snap.”

He leans closer, lips brushing the shell of my ear.
“I’ve fantasized about this. About having you like this. Vulnerable. Exposed. Mine.”

My breath catches as his hand slips higher, still unbearably slow. “Liam…”

“I know,” he murmurs. “You’re overwhelmed. Good.”

He kisses my collarbone, then my jaw, his touch reverent but trembling—like he’s worshipping me and caging me at the same time.

“You were never supposed to be something I needed,” he whispers against my skin. “But now I can’t think straight without you. I can’t breathe right when you’re not around. It’s driving me insane.”

His words feel like chains—velvet ones—but chains all the same.

And God help me, I want him to lock them tighter.

“I watch you, Lara.” His mouth hovers over mine, but he doesn’t kiss me. “Every look you give someone else, every time someone gets too close—I see red. You don’t even know how close I’ve come to losing control.”

A small, helpless sound escapes me.

“You think I’m obsessed?” He lets out a low laugh, but there’s no humor in it. “That word doesn’t even touch what this is. I’d tear the world apart to keep you mine. Burn it to the ground if it meant you'd stay by my side.”

I close my eyes, overwhelmed, breathless, aroused and terrified and addicted.

Because he means it. Every single word.

And maybe the most dangerous part?

Somewhere deep inside, I want to be ruined by Liam.

“Say it,” he whispers.

My lashes flutter open. “Say… what?”

“Say you're mine.”

His grip tightens. His pupils are blown wide. His whole body trembles with restraint.

I should lie. I should deflect.

But instead, I whisper, “I’m yours.”

Something inside Liam breaks at that.

He crashes into me like a man starved, like my words unlocked the beast behind his careful mask. His mouth is rough, desperate, devouring. His hands grip like he’s afraid I’ll vanish beneath him.

“I’ll never let you go,” he growls into my mouth.

And I know in that moment—he means it. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever.

I’ve just handed myself over to a man who would destroy the world to keep me.

And the scariest part?

I don’t want to be saved.