He took a step away. “I need to go.”
She grabbed his arm. “Where are you going?”
“To search for it.” He glanced at her.
She sighed. Her expression turned to one of anguish. “Oh, Arto.” She moved closer to him and stared up at him. “Be careful.”
“I will,” he promised.
“Arto?” she repeated in a lower voice.
He glanced at her, searching her eyes. “Yes?”
“I couldn’t bear if anything happened to you.” Her lower lip trembled.
He held her by the upper arms. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine,” he assured her.
As he stared into her searching eyes, that pulse-pounding, heated anticipation from the back of the cab returned.
Her lips parted. “Have I blown it with you?”
He canted his head. “What do you mean?”
She mashed her lips together, and her brows furrowed. “By not taking a chance. By saying we’re just friends. When you mean so much more to me than just a friend.”
Was he truly hearing this?
“Never.” He took her hand and kissed the palm. “I understand why. And I’d wait for you forever.”
“Oh.” Her free hand fluttered to her chest. Amid her frantic worry, a glimmer of desire flickered in her eyes. She reached up and touched his cheek.
The smoldering heat fired up, almost consuming him. Would she pull away again and give him another chaste kiss?
She lowered her gaze to his mouth. The heat between them was almost incendiary. His desire wasn’t one-sided—there was no mistaking her need this time.
She rose to her tiptoes, still only reaching his chest level. “Kiss me.”
Words. It was only two words, but they were ones he’d fantasized a thousand times over, and they leveled him. He widened his stance and bent down closer to her, flames of expectation rising.
Slow motion. That’s how his dazed senses tricked him as his lips approached hers. Agonizingly slow and burning with raw desire.
And then they finally brushed.
A heady daze flooded him. Was this real? Or another one of his dreams?
When she let out a small sigh, pleasure rushed through his body. There was zero doubt this was real. The sensations that roared within were nothing short of magical.
She ran her hands over the muscular curves of his back. He reached around and cupped behind her neck. Although slow at first as they explored each other for the first time, a rampant desire raged through him as he intensified the kiss, yearning to claim her as his.
He wrapped his arms around her, pressing her closer. Her full breasts crushed against his torso, and a low growl escaped him.
No tentative exploration now. Their mouths crashed, almost bruising each other, desperate with months of heightening, unrelenting passion.
He’d fantasized about a moment like this for so long. It was even more powerful than anything he could have imagined—and it confirmed one thing. She was the one for him—the only one—his mate.
But she was also in danger. Although he wanted to stay there with her forever and kiss her until they were both gasping for breath, that wasn’t an option. Not with her in danger.
He forced himself to break free from the most incredible kiss of his life. He dropped his forehead to hers. They remained statue-still before he uttered the words he dreaded.
