Chapter 82 – Daphne POV
She tastes like rainwater and recklessness.
Like something forbidden and inevitable.
Her mouth crashes against mine, and it's everything I've been trying to avoid.
Everything I've denied myself.
Everything I can't stop wanting.
I kiss her back.
Gods help me—I kiss her back.
My fingers fist into her wet hair, my other hand finding the curve of her back, dragging her closer even though I know I shouldn't. The water sloshes around us as we move, bodies pressed together, skin to skin, like we're trying to carve this moment into time.
She gasps when I nip at her bottom lip, and I feel it—how her hands tremble before tightening around me.
It's messy.
Too much.
Not enough.
I want to run. I want to stay.
I want to forget and remember at the same time.
She sighs against my mouth like she's coming undone, and it's that sound that breaks something inside me.
Because it's not her voice I hear in my head.
It's Jiang Yuxi's.
I pull back.
