Page 95 of The Twisted Beats

The blood courses through my veins. My destructive thoughts get turned on again like the wrinkle-free setting of a dryer and tumble over each other.

I’ll never be her. My head and chest burn. I’ll always be second, a replica, and still the substitute. I lose my breath and tremble.

“Lily, baby. What’s going on?” His blue eyes fill with overwhelming concern. “Let me in, Lily. You’re not alone. I love you, so please, please don’t keep this from me.”

“I’ll never be her.” The truth spills from my lips.

I’ve never said the words out loud, not to anyone. Andwith one loving gaze from Callum, they just shed themselves from my soul.

“Livianna, I don’t want her. I only want you.” He pulls back and with a subtle shake of his head, his shoulders fall. “Don’t you get it? Nobody will ever be you, and you’re all I want.”

Tears press on the back of my eyes.I’m all he wants.I cling to it.

“Then show me. Show me now, Callum. Help me feel better.”

It’s wrong of me to ask, but I do anyway. I need to experience his truth.

His lips smash against mine. Our tongues dive and swim together as I paw at his shirt, pushing it up so I can run my hands over his skin.

I need to feel his heartbeat. A pounding that beats for me. He pulls away, tears his shirt off over his head, and throws it to the floor.

He steps back to me but stops. “I should lock the door.”

“Definitely.”

He rushes to lock the door and returns to me as he undoes the belt on his jeans. “You’re the most beautiful woman… A riff I can’t get out of my head, Lily.”

He just called me a woman, not a girl. Chills spread over my skin.

As he tugs off his jeans, I undo the hidden hooks that hold my corset together as fast as I can. I drop it to the floor and let my breasts be on full display.

“You’re perfect.” Callum stares at me in awe as if it’s the first time he’s ever seen a woman undress. Maybe it is.

He pads toward me as if he’s a lion. I slow it down and slip out of the rest of my clothes until I stand naked and bare before him.

“Make love to me, Callum.”

A conflicted expression floats over his face, but in a flash, passion covers his eyes. He picks me up and cradles me in his arms, kissing me as he carries me to the bed.

He lays me down. “Are you sure?—”

“I love you, Callum Mayze. Let me show you how much.”

He climbs over me and our mouths mesh together. We kiss passionately and breathe in hurried gasps and pants as we grind and slide over one another.

The way he caresses me, my breasts, and over every sensitive spot is as if he’s caring for a delicate flower. Like a lily he doesn’t want to destroy.

I pull away from his lips. “Callum, I want you inside of me.”

“I want that, too.” He shifts to get off me. “I left the condom in my pocket.”

I grab him, digging my nails into his back. “No. I don’t want to use one.”

“But, Lily?—”

“No. You didn’t use one with her.” My eyes bore into his. “You say you love me and she means nothing. If that’s true, prove it to me and let’s do this without one.”

“We can’t. You could get pregnant. It’s too risky.”