I stumbled back half a step, surprised at the strength coming out of her tiny body. “What the?—”
She put her hand over my mouth.“Shhhh,”she said into my mind.
“Have you lost it?”I asked as she kept shoving me into the darkness of an alley.
“Someone is following us. Or something is going on. I feel it in my gut.” Did she have a touch of foresight?
I went willingly, dragging her into the alley and pressing her into the wall to hide us both.
Footsteps I hadn’t noticed sounded somewhere on the cobblestones. Low voices snarled, and lantern light came closer.
“Kiss me!”Delicate but firm fingers turned my face towards hers.
Our lips met, and something inside me broke.
A small, satisfied noise escaped her as her lips barely parted. I got the first hint of her taste, eliciting a moan of my own. We had been resisting and dancing around it for so long, it was like being knocked out of the sky, free-falling, and hitting the ground. If I hadn’t known better, I would have sworn she’d bewitched me, and I was lost to the battle long fought to avoid her mouth. She took the breath from my lungs when her lips parted, and she allowed my tongue to slide in over hers.
She wrapped a leg around my hip and ground into me.
Fuck.
“What are you doing?”
“Pick me up.”
I did as she asked. Half because I was sure we were about to be caught, and half because I needed her to rub against me again. She linked her ankles around the small of my back, coming to fully rest her arse against my dick.
I nearly tore her clothes off right there, anyone watching be damned.
Light shone somewhere behind us, but moved on quickly, probably thinking we were just another couple caught up in passion. I wasn’t sure if they were looking for us or just the night watch.
And in that moment, I didn’t care.
I melted into her and kissed her until I thought my dick might beat its way out of my leathers. Great time to be relentlessly turned on, while running for our damned lives. Great look.
I had to pull back, or I would have her right here against the building, and then what had all my resisting been for? I was trying to make this easier on both of us and nearly lost all my resolve at one taste of her. I couldn’t risk her life by taking her maidenhood. We were both dead if Arkyn so much as suspected anything between us.
But would he ever know?
Where was the harm in being with her? We both felt the bond between us. It was right. For a moment, I really didn’t know, and then it all came flooding back to me. She was betrothed. Even kissing her put my neck on the line. There was no doubt in my mind that even thinking about bedding her was treason to the heir. I had to fly away and never look back. The pain already choked my throat.
I pulled away and stared down at her, both of us panting. “We can’t,” I started, not knowing where to go with whatever reasoning I could come up with. I just had to stop it.
“No, we can’t.” She shook her head while a frown formed between her brows. “We should get off the street anyway. I don’t want those guys to come back.”
“Right,” I said breathlessly.
I sent up a prayer as we entered the next inn, glancing at Caly as I held open the door. She laughed.
“What?”
“You look like you’ve just ravished me in the alley.”
I hurriedly looked back at her. She appeared about the same, hair a bit of a mess, and cheeks flushed. Great.
“Any rooms?” I all but barked as he looked up.
He eyed us, then turned to lift a key off the otherwise empty rack behind him.
