“I…” The words stuck in my throat. “I lied to you last night.”
Her hands stilled. “About what?”
“About what I feel for you.” I forced myself to meet her eyes. “It’s not just attraction. It’s not just seeking comfort. I think about you constantly. When I woke up and found you gone, I felt like someone had ripped my heart out of my chest.”
She stared at me for a long moment, her face unreadable. Then, quietly, she said, “Why didn’t you just say that?”
Why didn’t I? I couldn’t remember the reasons, now, but I had them. All of them boiled down to: “Fear, I suppose.”
“Fear that I wouldn’t feel the same?” she asked.
I took the wet cloth from her and pressed it to my neck. The itchy spot was burning now. Some rain must have gotten on it. “Maybe. Probably.” I shook my head, knowing I wasn’t being as clear as she would like, but not knowing how to make my jumbled thoughts coherent. “The feelings I have are big and terrifying, and I don’t know what to do with them. If I kept them to myself, neither of us would have to deal with them. That seemed simpler, given the circumstances.”
“Hmm.” She nodded. “The circumstances are not ideal.”
“No. They’re not.” I ran my free hand through my hair. “But don’t worry about this. We’ll figure it out.”
Her lips twitched. “You said that line again.”
Nerves made my movements jerky. It was a large room, but I felt too big for it. Like there wasn’t enough room in this whole tower for the both of us and all the tension crackling between us. “I don’t knowwhatto say.”
She blinked at me. “Say you like me.”
“I like you.” I threw up my hands, knowing my voice was getting loud. Knowing that she was likely about to laugh and explain my feelings in some scientific way that I didn’t want to hear. “Are we done here? Can we stop standing here and get to work on a plan to get off this rock?”
Her lips curved. “I like you, too, Torven.”
The simple admission took a moment to sink in. “You do?”
“Of course I do.” She took back the cloth and set down both it and the water container. “Did you think I was just being friendly when I asked you about your relationship status? Or when I kissed you back yesterday?”
“I thought…” I shook my head. “I don’t know what I thought.”
“I’ve been thinking about you since the day we met,” she continued, her voice gaining strength. “Even when you were being gruff and criticizing my equipment choices.Especiallythen, actually. There’s something about competent, protective males that apparently does it for me.”
Some tight knot in my chest began to loosen. “So where does that leave us?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I’ve never been in this situation before. I’ve never felt this way about anyone.”
The honesty in her voice made something warm unfurl in my chest. “Neither have I.”
We looked at each other across the small space, and there was nothing else. Nothing but her.
“Hey,” she said softly. She reached up and cupped my face in her hands. Her thumbs stroked across my cheekbones. “I don’t know what we’re doing,” she whispered.
“Neither do I,” I replied, my voice pure rasp.
Then she was pulling me down to her, and our mouths met in a kiss that was nothing like the tentative exploration from the day before. This was urgent, desperate, full of all the want and need we’d been trying to suppress.
I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her closer, and she made a sound of approval that went straight to my cock. Her hands tangled in my hair. She pressed against me and my body drank it in with the same hunger as if I was starving oflami.
I let my hands roam, tracing the curve of her waist, the soft swell of her hip. When I cupped her ass and pulled her more firmly against me, she could feel exactly how much I wanted her, and she responded by rolling her hips in a way that made me groan into her mouth.
Her nipples were hard points against my chest, and when she made a soft, needy sound and pressed closer, I thought I might lose what little control I had left.
Then my neck exploded in fire.
I jerked away from her with a sharp curse, my hand flying to the burning sensation that felt like someone had pressed a brand to my skin.
