Until He Is Mine (Affaire de Coeur, #2)

Chapter 1: Over a year

It is said that with love, the heart would neither be filled with emptiness nor would it be wanting for anything. Maggie, a romantic at heart, had secretly believed in it ever since she had started indulging herself with all the romance books that she could get her hands on. And then, as much as her heart wanted to believe in the splendidness of love, her head was gradually occupied with ugly thoughts and doubts.

Like now, Maggie and Damian were on their way back to his pad after hours of jaunt in the same food fair that they went to a year ago. Well, technical speaking, Maggie was walking two feet behind Damian – the two of them behaving like strangers when they had just one particular destination.

It had always been like this between them – with Maggie or Damian walking feet ahead of each other and never walking side by side. It was not the same since they had finally decided to get together, or rather Maggie finally welcoming Damian's ardent attentions. Unlike in those days that they were still in that 'getting-to-know-each-other' stage, they now behaved in a way like whatever it was that was going on between them was a top secret that nobody should ever discover. Hence, going out had become so secretive as if what they had been doing was a threat to the public safety. Oddly, it was essentially a threat to the privacy of the two.

Reaching the turn towards the building, Maggie realized that Damian had slowed down a little leaving a foot of distance between them. Looking down, she found that he had extended his arm backward as if he was asking her to take it.

That was just another thing that Maggie naturally got used to, Damian extending his hand for her to hold when he was sure nobody could spy on them. And like always, she would just reach out and hold on to his pinky finger. After all, it was easier to let go rather than having their fingers all laced up together.

For the millionth time, she studied his leather-covered back. Randomly, she tried to count in her head the things she liked about him, and his reliable and broad back topped all of them. She could not get tired of leaning on his back when it was just the two of them. Then again, just being nestled against his body in general gave her the feeling of protection. It was as if burrowing herself in his warmth sheltered her from all the bad things in the world.

But before Maggie could even move on to the second in her list, she felt her back slammed against the cold hard wall. Looking around, she discovered that Damian had taken her to the fire escape, which he had done more than ten times already.

Tilting her head upwards, she was greeted by his burning blue eyes – if it had been of desire, she was not sure. But she would, of course, take that back because the look in his eyes was totally of yearning.

"Real— "

Before Maggie could even finish what she was about to say, Damian had already pressed his lips against hers. This was a kiss that was wild and passionate, not the slow and romantic one. He kissed her like he had been longing for her when, in fact, she'd just kissed her when he brought her to his pad that morning.

And with his bruising kiss, she yielded – her mouth opening to his, giving entrance to his tongue. His tongue explored her mouth, searched for hers, their tongues dancing to a seductive tune that only their hearts could truly hear.

Finally, Damian lifted his face off hers inch by little inch. His left hand was entwine in her tresses, which were bound into a ponytail just moments ago, while his other hand was gripping her waist tight enough to leave bruises on her skin.

"Damn, I wanted to kiss you the moment we left my rooms this afternoon." He mumbled breathily, bringing an embarrassed blush to Maggie's cheeks.

She just did not know for how long she would feel self-conscious about his loving words, his touches or his kisses. But every time he said such things, she just wanted to disappear from the face of the earth. At the same time, she wanted to forever drown in that overflowing love of his.