Chapter 711
“Because I was too arrogant p>
Jarred’s smile faded for a split second, a razor-thin layer of regret surfacing in his eyes, so faint it was nearly invisible.
But Sienna still caught it.
“I assumed those garbage rumors were utterly beneath my notice, completely forgetting one crucial thing.
“My cold indifference eventually became the sharpest blade that slaughtered your trust p>
He paused for a beat after saying it.
Shifting his fingers from her lips, he pressed his entire palm flush against her cheek, branding his blistering heat onto her cheekbone.
“I am sorry p>
The moment those words fell, his lips crashed down onto hers.
“My negligence forced you to endure all of that alone. I will make this right p>
Sienna completely froze, an absolute inferno of rage exploding in her chest.
How could one pathetic, weightless apology ever erase years of crushing humiliation?
How could it possibly balance out the agonizing heartbreak and sheer desperation she suffered night after night?
This man was always, inevitably, a much bigger, much more selfish bastard than she could ever imagine.
Sienna yanked her head to the side to dodge him.
But his hand instantly locked around the back of her head, his movement entirely unhurried yet absolutely inescapable.
As his scorching lips crushed against the corner of her mouth, she tasted the sharp tang of blood from his cracked skin.
Mixed with the faint, lingering bitterness of the medicine on his tongue.
Her brain completely short-circuited for a second. Shoving her hands against his chest, she tried to hurl him off.
But his fever spiked his body heat like a raging furnace, the heat spreading from her lips all the way to her ears, turning her fingers completely weak.
Sienna clamped her teeth down hard, biting him.
Jarred let out a sharp grunt and pulled back just half an inch.
Yet beneath his lowered lashes, those eyes held absolutely zero retreat; instead, they burned brighter than dying stars.
“Give me one more chance,” he rasps, their noses brushing as their hot breaths violently tangled.
“Darling, I promise I’ll make it up to you p>
His burning lips captured hers again, this time with a terrifying, agonizing tenderness.
So terrified of scaring her off, yet far too greedy to ever let go.
Sienna thrashed frantically, fighting him with everything she had.
But even weakened by a massive fever, the man remained utterly dominant and relentlessly powerful.
His technique was maddeningly gentle yet physically absolute raining deep, intoxicating kisses over her until her senses completely shattered.
Only after a dangerously long time did Sienna manage to claw her sanity back.
“It is too late, Jarred. The exact second I decided to drop you, you became absolute nothingness to me p>
The towering man hovering above her visibly locked up.
But the very next second, his lips split into a smirk.
That curve expanded slowly, morphing into a dangerously seductive smile.
Even flushed with an intense fever, his god-tier face remained devastatingly flawless.
There wasn’t a shred of defeat in Jarred’s eyes—only a much darker, much more obsessive fire.
“Then I really am damned to hell for seeing all of that p>
He scooped her up effortlessly with one arm, his long fingers trailing dangerously slow across her jaw.
“I always completely miscalculated, assuming you were obsessed with Maloney, thinking I never had a single place in your heart.
“But now, I know.
“The very first man to crash into your world, the one you hid in your soul and adored silently for your entire youth, was me.
“I was just the absolute idiot who realized too late and lost you.
“Now that I’ve seen exactly what you buried for over a decade… do you honestly think I could ever let you go p>
He leaned in closer, pressing his lips right against the shell of her ear.
Every word carried a scalding dampness, drilling straight into her mind. “I can’t let you go. I don’t care how hard you try to get rid of me, I arn never letting you go p>
Pinned beneath him, caged in his arms, feeling him whisper intimately against her ear.
Every single inch of her skin felt like it was being branded by the blistering heat of his palms.
She yanked her head to the side, desperate to put distance between them.
But he was far too close, completely backing her into a corner.
Sienna’s entire body went rigid.