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CHAPTER 223
~Valerie's POV~
The kiss deepened, hungrily, as if the world outside this room no longer mattered. Every part of me was on fire.
Dristan's hands were no longer tentative. He gripped my waist like he was anchoring himself to me, like letting go would break him.
I arched into him before I even realized it, my body betraying every shred of pride I had left.
I wasn't supposed to want this again—not this badly—but Dristan had always known how to unravel me with a single look… And now, with his lips on mine, there was no turning back.
He pressed me gently into the wall beside the door, one arm braced above my head, the other curled around my lower back, pulling me flush against his chest.
Every hard line of him met every soft edge of me.
I gasped when his fingers skimmed beneath the hem of my shirt, cool against the fevered heat of my skin. He paused, giving me a second to stop him, but I didn't.