The guard gives an annoyed sigh and leans closer.
“You know, there’s an inn around the corner. Hourly rates. You might want to explore that before you end up fucking against the wall.”
I have to bite my lip to keep from bursting into laughter, but as my teeth come down, I catch Zadyn’s lip. Hard. He lets out a guttural sound and crushes me against the building. The jagged stone digs into my back, and a little gasp slips past my defenses.
For a moment, I forget the soldiers completely as Zadyn and I continue to kiss, a strange hunger building between us. He tilts his head, deepening the kiss, and I let my tongue collide with his.
It’s just acting. To an outsider, I could safely say that we are giving the performance of a lifetime. But for that moment, that’s all that exists—our mouths, our tongues, his taste and smell, his fucking hands?—
A warning bell chimes in the back of my mind. This is dangerous territory.
So what?I throw back, sucking his bottom lip into my mouth.We’re making out. What’s a casual makeout between friends? It’s harmless. It’s like the time in college me and Annie lost a game of flip cup and…
Oh, shit.
This isnotthe first time Zadyn and I have kissed.
My brain begins to turn over the events of that drunken night, and boy, do I have questions for him. But the way he’s kissing me right now is making it hard to form rational, coherent thought and is quickly grinding my morals to dust.
After another moment, he breaks away, breathless.
“Do you think they’re gone?” I ask. His forehead tips against mine.
“I think so.” Feeling him nod, I crack my eyes open, staring at his swollen bottom lip as his heart thrashes against my palms.
“Do you think they bought it?”
“Honestly?” he breathes. “I don’t really care.”
I laugh against his open mouth, and we stay that way for a prolonged second, our upper lips justbarelytouching—waiting to see who bites first. I hold my breath, thinking he might kiss me again.
Hopinghe might kiss me again.
What is that all about?
Instead, he pushes away from me—the portrait of restraint.
He’s always so good with that. I wonder what he’s like when he’s out of control.
Unrestrained.
He searches my face, and for a second I worry he might be reading my mind in that strange way he does. Instead, he tows me toward the inn at a hurried pace.
As we pass by a storefront window, two strangers mimic our movements. I lift a hand, and the blonde, plain-featured female in the glass does the same.
I sneak a look at Zadyn.
He glamoured us.
That kiss was completely unnecessary.
But as I fight back a smile, I realize I don’t mind. Not one bit.
43
ZADYN
Fucking idiot.?*
