“What you are saying is dangerous and would place you directly in harm’s way.”
“I’m not afraid of danger,” Jo insisted. “What I am afraid of—” She choked on her own words, having to force them out. “What I am afraid of is doing nothing. Of losing control. Of my magic. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt or die, especially not because of me. But it feels like I’m one step away from shattering into a million pieces and taking everybody down with me.”
The words turned into a hasty ramble. It was as if she had built up a dam to hold back her worry and now, in the presence of the one person she trusted more than anyone else, she could let them all out freely. Things she didn’t even realize had been heavy on her heart were lifted.
“I will do everything in my power to ensure that no other member of the Society suffers the same fate as Nico.” Jo hugged him a bit tighter at their lost friend’s name. “But I promise you this. No matter what happens, here and now or years in the future, no matter what judgments befall the rest of humanity, I will protect you. I will make sure you do not suffer the fate of losing who you are.”
Jo almost startled at the unbridled genuineness in Snow’s tone. It was a tone that settled warm and comforting into her bones, like honey poured into hot tea. But it was also fierce, determined, and it made a different warmth bloom, urgent and low.
“But what if I don’t need protecting?” Jo was surprised her voice was so steady, considering the way her heartbeat had begun to quicken, her body starting to ache with the beginnings of need. She clung tighter to Snow’s muscled frame and triumphed at the sigh of contentment that escaped him as she did so. His arms mimicked her motion.
“Even then, I would still protect you.”
“Do I need protecting now?” It came out teasing, more so than Jo expected considering the roller coaster her heart was currently trapped on, but thankfully, Snow only chuckled. It was a deep sound, vibrating between their chests like a shared and tremulous heartbeat.
“Perhaps only from me.” Snow’s words would have been concerning in any other circumstances. But the dark growl of sound was filled with welcome implication, playful and bordering on explicit, and all too welcome.
Jo felt another shiver run down her spine and reveled in the fact that Snow had most likely felt it too.
The need for Snow to know how much of an effect he had on her was overwhelming. She wanted him to understand just how easily he could rile her up and then gently pull her back down. She wanted him to realize how completely he filled her thoughts and lungs and heart. She wanted him to know what she was starting to deeply understand on an intimate and unspoken level.
Which was why she could have kicked herself for the next words that tumbled past her lips, the connection from brain to mouth too hazy with desire to control.
“What if you can’t?” Snow pulled away just far enough to scan Jo’s face in concern, and Jo continued to mentally berate herself for potentially ruining the mood. “Protect me, I mean . . .” She finished lamely, because in for a penny. It was something she wanted to know,neededto know, ever since the first time she’d sensed the change in her magic. And after today, after what she’d done, she also needed to know that he would be all right. If something happened to her, if her magic became too much to handle and those dark manifestations in the back of her mind took over, she needed to be sure that Snow would be all right.
Unfortunately, Snow didn’t seem willing to follow her train of thought, his eyes pained as he raised both hands to her face, elegant fingers resting gently against her cheeks, her jaw, her neck. Without a word, he leaned in to place a chaste but lingering kiss against her lips. It was intimate and filled with unspoken desire, but also delicate, bordering on fragile, as if he was afraid thathewould breakher.As if such a thing could ever be possible.
Before Jo could kiss him more fully, show him how much she yearned, he was pulling back again. Not enough to really even call it breaking the kiss, but just enough for him to speak against her lips, each word a vibration of hot sound passed between their mouths.
“I willalwaysprotect you,” he repeated, kissing her again, another chaste but heartfelt press, before pulling back. Jo almost whined, clinging that much harder to the fabric of his shirt as she pressed against him. “Always, Josephina. In this and every millennia, that is the one thing I will always do.”
This time, when he kissed her again, it was hungry, teeth scraping against her bottom lip for a moment before he was pulling away, the both of them left panting. She felt like each kiss wound her up tighter, drowned her in the scent of winter and cloves until she would go mad with it. But still Snow spoke, promised, his lips brushing hers with every word. When his eyes fluttered closed on a sigh, the final heated whispers that drifted between them sounded as involuntary as a breath itself.
“I can’t lose you again. Not again. Not after so long.”
Jo wasn’t even sure he was aware of saying those last words out loud, but before she could ask him what he meant, Snow was pulling her back into another kiss.
Chapter 18
Will It Break
If the last few kisses had been a steady increase in heat, this one was searing, white hot and boiling all the way down to her core, reminding Jo of every hour she had endured without his touch. Jo’s nerves came alight with the rush of it, a gripping need taking hold. Every inch of her body not pressed against Snow in some way ached with the need to touch, as if her entity as a whole wished to melt into him, be absorbed by him. She wanted to be as close to him as it was possible to be, surrounded and filled to the brim, and suddenly, kissing wasn’t enough.
This time, Jo was the one to pull away, silently pleased at the dazed look of confusion that flashed across Snow’s face. His hands refused to move from where they’d settled around her waist, trying not so subtly to pull her back in. Despite the heaviness of the moment and the thick tension in the air, Jo couldn’t help but smirk.
She didn’t tease, wasting no time in removing her hoodie and shirt, something Snow seemed pleased that she could do without him having to let go. Though when she tugged a bit loosely on his collar, he reluctantly gave in, letting his arms fall away so he might remove his own.
For a long moment, Jo stood before him, taking him in. She let her eyes roam over the near translucent skin of his chest, the strong, corded muscles of his arms, reveling in the sight of him. It seemed so impossible, yet somehow inevitable, to have him at less than arm’s length, to be able to reach out and touch him if she so chose. Which she did, desperately.
Jo placed both hands against his chest, letting her fingers spread until they brushed against the already hardened peaks of his nipples. Snow inhaled sharply at the sensation and the sound went straight to Jo’s groin. When she chanced a look up at his face, her breath caught in her throat at the look he was already giving her: pupils blown wide and dark, a soft flush along his face and neck, lips parted just enough to be tantalizing.
Jo couldn’t help but lick her own lips at the sight, watching almost in slow motion as Snow’s gaze dipped down to watch. And with that simple drop of his eyes, the quick recapturing of her attention, the tension stretched thin and snapped.
There was no telling who moved in first; blissfully, they were kissing again. Though, calling it a kiss was probably a bit of an understatement. Jo had never felt such hunger beneath a kiss, like neither of them could seem to get close enough. It was harsh and devouring and filled with something Jo couldn’t describe, despite how achingly familiar it seemed. It was messy, teeth knocking more than once in their neediness, lips already undoubtedly bruised. It was not enough, it was too much.
It wasperfect.
Jo almost felt guilty for wanting more.
