“You must choose for yourself. I will support your decision, no matter what it is.”
Her face relaxes further. “I get to choose,” she says on an exhale.
“You get to choose.”
“And I don’t have to choose now?”
“No.”
She shifts, and the edge of her dress brushes the inside of my thigh. I suck in a breath.
Her expression turns curious, and she presses her hand to my cheek in an unexpectedly tender touch. “I still don’t know how to process all of this,” she whispers. Small fingers trace the contours of my cheek, down the length of my nose, and over my lips. “It’s like being in a dream. A very beautiful dream.” Her gaze is penetrating, diving into my very soul. “A dream I don’t want to wake up from.”
No one has ever looked at me this way. No one has ever touched me this way. I spent years of my life alone, having no idea I was missing anything at all. But I was. I was missingher, and I cannot go back to that island of isolation I once called home.
I brush her hair back from her face. “Then do not wake up. Stay with me,” I whisper, almost like a prayer.
Trust her,a voice says from the depths of my soul.
“I’m so comfortable with you, and I don’t get it. It’s almost like,” she pauses and takes a breath, “I don’t know. Like being around you is giving me a piece of myself back.”
“Zhyrrak bonds are strong.”
“Zhyrrak,” she says. “What does that mean? My translator doesn’t know the word.”
My hands are resting on her hips, but I do not remember putting them there.
“It means two hearts beating as one. And it has not happened in a very, very long time.”
“Why not?” she asks.
“No one really knows.”
She pulls my face closer to hers, and her eyes drop to my mouth. My stomach tenses. I can feel her intention. I knowwhat she wants, and I want to give it to her. But I…
“I have never kissed anyone,” I confess.
Her eyes flick between mine, and it’s clear her vacillating indecision is gone. “Do you want to?”
“Yes.” I wet my lips.
“And you trust me?”
“Yes.”
She gives me a small smile as her eyes search my face and then close. Her breath ghosts over my mouth, and the soft contours of her lips brush mine.
For a moment, I am lost. The sensation is overwhelming. My lips tingle and heat. The pads of my fingers dig into the soft flesh of her hips. Then she does it again, lips parting and caressing mine.
Cautiously, I emulate her movements, and the entire universe narrows down to a single point. I do it again, and desire floods our connection.
Her fingers grasp at my neck, and she breaks the kiss, pressing her forehead to mine and leaving enough room between us to suck in a ragged breath. A haze of pleasure clouds my mind.
“Holy shit,” she gasps. Her hands tremble against my skin. Heart thuds wildly in my chest. And I feel her slipping between my cracks, into every corner of my being like a warm, sensual flood. Whatever barriers I built between us shatter.
“Zar’vok,” I say, my voice deep and heavy. “I feel you everywhere.” I grip her waist and pull her against me as her mouth returns mine.
The tip of her tongue brushes the seam of my lips. Heat pulses down my spine. I match her stroke with one of my own, and she opens for me, beckoning me in. She tastes better than any fantasy. Likechaos and fire.
