That was not what she had anticipated him saying. No one had ever said she was strong. Weak, weak, weak was all she ever heard. The way he gazed at her made her heartbeat quicken—like he saw her, really saw her, in a way no one else ever had.

She tore her eyes away, gulping down the surge of emotion. She did not know if she could handle whatever was happening between them. But she could not pretend it was not happening. Fire licked along her nerves, her core aching with how badly she needed him. God, to feel his knot again, to be Luthor's entirely, this time as his...