“Rest,” I say, pulling the curtains closed. “That is all I ask.”
I turn back to her with a smile and freeze.
Snow’s on the bed where I left her but in the ten seconds my back was turned, she’s shed the clothes she borrowed after her shower.
She lies on top of the sheets with her legs crossed at the knee and her arms back to support her as she leans back, completely naked.
Try as I might, I can’t stop my gaze from slipping down to her round, full breasts and alert, dusky nipples hardening against the slight chill in the air as if trying to invite me in.
It takes every ounce of my restraint not to look down at the inviting crease between her thighs.
“Snow.” Her name escapes me like a strangled gasp and I fight to clear my throat.
“Let me say thank you. I know we can’t kiss, we can’t exchange fluids and things, I know,” she says, her cheeks growing pinker by the second. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun, right?”
11
SNOW
Later, I’ll ask myself what the hell I was thinking.
Throwing myself at Xander like I have no self-respect isn’t the wisest thing I’ve ever done, but I can’t help myself.
Everything is crumbling.
My life is a mess.
And in forty-eight hours, I will get a phone call that will dictate how I need to live the rest of my life, thanks to the needle that ended up in my arm.
So what if I want the taste of one good thing from an attractive man who, apparently, shares the same fleeting interest igniting in my own heart?
Xander stands by the window, cloaked in shadow after closing the curtains.
His white shirt takes on a slightly sheer appearance as the only light remaining in the room comes from the bedside lamp near him.
He shifts ever so subtly, and the fabric appears to cling to the muscles hidden underneath, creating deeper shadows across his body.
Silence drags on as I wait for his answer, and my skin clings to the last remaining warmth that lingers from my discarded clothing.
The collar of his shirt rests open just enough that I glimpse the faintest hint of dark hair across his chest.
One of his hands curls into a fist, and despite not making a sound, his jaw twitches and the nerve just beneath his ear jumps like something is trying to escape.
My heart pounds.
My body warms.
And for a few hot seconds under his gaze, I fear that cold rejection is hiding in those impossibly dark eyes of his.
Then Xander speaks and his usual calm, monotone voice is replaced by something so deep that the words vibrate through the air toward me.
“You really think there’s something we can do that will quell my urge to jump on you andfuckyou right now?”
The first tendrils of chill from being naked immediately vanish as warmth blooms across my entire body.
Xander’s words ignite something deep inside me and I can’t keep the smile from my face.
“You said yourself that we can’t,” I say, slightly breathless from how fiercely my heart pounds. “So you’ll have to settle for something else.”
