Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 121310 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121310 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
She tilts her head to look up at me, and there's something in her eyes—a shadow, a flicker of something I can't quite name. "Promise?" she asks, her voice suddenly small, almost childlike in its vulnerability.
"I promise," I say, tightening my arms around her. "Nothing will ever separate us again."
She settles back against my chest with a contented sigh, her body relaxing into sleep. I stay awake long after her breathing has evened out, watching the rise and fall of her chest, memorizing the peaceful expression on her face.
My Anna is happy tonight—radiantly, incandescently so. And seeing her like this, whole and at peace, fills me with a joy so fierce it borders on pain.
But as I hold her, as I breathe in the scent of her skin and feel the warmth of her body against mine, I can't shake the feeling that something fundamental has changed. That beneath the surface of this perfect night, there's a current pulling us toward something I can't yet see.
I press another kiss to her temple, silently vowing to protect her from whatever comes next. Because one thing I know with absolute certainty: I would tear the world apart with my bare hands before I'd let anything hurt her again.
With that thought, I finally allow myself to drift toward sleep, my arms still wrapped tightly around her, keeping her safe. Mine now, mine always.
NINETEEN
ANNA
My pulse throbs in my ears as I stare at Domhnall's sleeping form, the moonlight casting silver shadows across his bare chest. He's beautiful when he sleeps—all the hard angles of his face softened, his dark lashes fanned against his cheeks, his breathing deep and steady.
I've been awake for hours, rehearsing this in my head.
I wanted him so bad earlier. All throughout the entire movie, I wanted to grab his head and shove it between my legs.
But I froze.
Because after all I've done to get rid of Mads, what if it suddenly brought her back?
I'm exhausted, but the throbbing between my legs won't let me sleep. And it's almost been a week now with no sight of Mads.
You can do this, Anna.
Dr. Ezra's voice echoes in my mind from our last session. "The more you avoid intimacy because you're afraid of switching, the more power you give to that fear. The mind is powerful—if you believe you'll switch during sexual intimacy, you might be creating a self-fulfilling prophecy."
I twist the edge of my nightgown between my fingers, my heart racing. I've been avoiding this for so long, letting Mads have this part of him because I was too afraid.
But I'm tired of being afraid.
I'm tired of being a bystander in my own life, my own body.
Tonight was perfect, and I'm taking back what's mine. After all, this is the final test of whether I've truly evicted her from my body, isn't it?
I take a deep breath.
I've seen Mads in action enough times to know how to mimic her. The way she talks. The way she moves. The confident swagger that I never quite mastered.
"Hey, handsome," I whisper, lowering my voice to match her husky tone as I trail my fingers across Domhnall's bare shoulder. "Wake up."
He stirs, his body tensing slightly before he relaxes, recognizing my touch even in sleep. His eyes flutter open, dark and disoriented.
"Anna?" he murmurs, voice thick with sleep.
I smile, letting it curl slow and wicked the way Mads would. "Try again," I purr, straddling him in one fluid motion.
His eyes sharpen instantly, taking in my posture, my expression, and the way I'm looking at him. I can pinpoint the exact moment he decides I'm Mads—the subtle shift in his gaze, the almost imperceptible tensing of his muscles.
"Mads," he says, no question in his tone. His hands come to rest on my thighs, fingers digging into the flesh there with a possessiveness he never shows Anna.
My breath catches. This is already different than any other time he's touched me. There's none of the careful gentleness he usually handles me with.
This is raw. Hungry.
“Miss me?” I ask, rolling my hips against him, feeling him harden beneath me.
His mouth curves into a smirk I rarely see. “Always,” he growls, and in one swift motion, he flips us over, pinning me beneath him.
The move is so unexpected, so unlike his usual careful approach with me, that I gasp. He misinterprets my surprise as pleasure, and his smirk deepens as he lowers his mouth to my neck, biting at the sensitive skin there.
“Oh!” The sound escapes me before I can stop it, and then I arch my body into his.
This is... not what I expected. I knew Domhnall was different with Mads—more dominant, more aggressive—but I hadn’t anticipated the complete transformation. The man above me right now isn’t the gentle, careful lover I’m used to. This is the Domhn I’ve only heard about, the one who makes Mads scream and beg.