Her brows pinch together as she peers up at me. “You watched me fall for Jack. And you never said anything.”
Yeah, that was rough. But it wasn’t like I could go and throw my hat in the ring either. He was her first serious boyfriend, and she had it bad for him right away. I knew it would never work—her place was always here, on Solterre. Still, that didn’t make it any easier to watch.
“Who was I to stand in the way of your happiness? I told you before, that’s all I want. If that meant watching you fall head over heels for somebody else, as long as he was treating you right, I would have gladly stepped aside.”
“I thought that was love,” she says, reaching up to run her fingers through my hair. “Butthisis something else entirely. It’s like love on steroids.”
I laugh, brushing a kiss over her knuckles.
“When we got to Solterre, I watched you blossom. Completely. You coming into your power, owning who you are—I swear, I’ve never seen anything so beautiful. I hit the ground faster than I could blink,” I say. “I am so sorry for lying to you…and for making you feel alone.”
“I’m not alone anymore.” She smiles this blinding, mind-altering smile that makes me melt, and I know I’m forgiven. “You can spend the next two hundred years making up for it.”
“And how do you propose I do that?” I lean down, teasing my lips along her jaw.
Her lavender eyes twinkle. “I think you mentioned something last night. About bending me over a chair?”
I part her mouth with mine just as a loud knock shatters our perfect little bubble.
“Just dropping by to make sure the place is still standing!” Kai calls from outside the cabin. “We’ll be at grandmother’s house!”
I sigh as she gives me a peck and pulls herself out of my arms.
“We need to get back home soon,” she says, sitting up. I can’t help but watch, stiffening at the sight of her naked back all over again. I lean across the bed, planting slow kisses along her spine and smirking as she shivers.
“I know.”
“Do you think you’ll be good enough to travel by tomorrow?” She sighs, her eyes closing as she tips her head to the side, bearing her neck to me. My fingers trail over the rivets of my bite, which have now formed two pearlescent dots on her neck. I could heal them, but I don’t. I’m sure as hell going to wear hers proudly.
“Probably. I’ve got ninety percent of feeling back. But I think the real trouble is going to be leaving this bed when you’re sitting there looking like this.”
I wrap her hair around my fist and tug her head back. She gasps, and I angle my mouth to hers, cutting off the sound. She kisses me back for one glorious moment before she turns and shoves me off, offering me a dazzling grin. I fall back and lie there for a minute, watching her dress.
Mine.
“Not to sound like the insecure boyfriend, but what’s going to happen when we get back and you see Jace?”
“I’m going to strangle him is what’s going to happen,” she says, pulling a shirt over her head.
“I’m serious, Serena.”
She snatches my clothes off the floor and tosses them to me.
“So am I. His idiotic plan is what landed us here in the first place.”
“Don’t forget, I was in on it too.”
“Oh, trust me, I haven’t.”
I shake my head. “You’re going to forgive him.”
“I don’t have to. Not if I don’t want to.” She crosses her arms, giving me an indignant look, which shouldn’t be the turn-on that it is.
“Stop acting tough.”
“What are you worried about? Jace changes nothing that happened here. Besides, it’s best if we stay away from each other. For everyone’s sake.”
She moves around the bed to smooth a hand over my cheek. I catch it, pressing a kiss to the blue-black veins of her wrist. Her mouth twists into a devious smirk.
