“You should be.” Olivin’s eyes traveled across her face before his hand did, knuckles brushing against the swell of her cheek and resting there. His lips parted as if he were about to speak, but he abandoned the notion, soaking in the moment. Just asshe was about to ask him what he was waiting for, he found words. “I find I can’t sleep as well as I used to.”
“And why is that?” she asked.
“You know why.” His attention dropped to her lips. “I’ve been here for weeks now, waiting for you to look my way.”
“Olivin, I…” Words were harder and harder to say. A wave of heat rolled off him, enveloping her. The feeling of expectancy grew heavy in the air as his gaze became half-lidded. “I don’t know,” she whispered. “I still don’t know.”
There was so much tied up with those words. She didn’t know where she was headed once they defeated Ulvarth—ifthey did. She didn’t know who she’d be by the end of it. And didn’t know who she’d want. It was all the words she’d said and everything she couldn’t formulate into cohesive thoughts.
Somehow, he smiled in spite of her turmoil.
“You don’t have to know everything.” He chuckled deeply. Barely a rasp over the breezes. “You just have to know one thing…” He pulled lightly with the pads of his fingers. She straightened at what was little more than a suggestion. Eira’s lids grew heavy.
“And what is that?” she murmured.
“In this moment, here, now, do you want to kiss me?”
The world went still. Even the ship seemed to pause and the creaking of the wood and groaning of the ropes fell silent. The wind held its breath and she held hers with it as the sides of their noses brushed together. Olivin brought her right to the edge, but no further. The pressure from his fingers around her cheek eased slightly.
Are you sure this is what you want?the movement seemed to ask.
Eira gave in to the pull of the currents between them. She closed the gap and her lips brushed against his. It was all the permission he needed.
Olivin’s left hand found the other side of her face, pulling her closer. He tilted his head and she granted him access. His tongue slid against hers and a shiver coursed through her.
This kiss was different than the last time… It felt like it was the first time. When she’d kissed him in Champion Village, her heart and mind were a confused mess. Now…well, they werestilla confused mess. But she was finding comfort in the chaos. In the unknowing. Gone were the expectations of order. The pressures of conformity.
Everyone knew where she stood—or, rather, where she didn’t. There was no guilt or shame, just discovery. Opportunity for her, and for them. Besides…wasn’t this sort of thing what pirates did? Explore? Pillage? Take what they wanted whenever they wanted?
A grin split Eira’s lips as her hands balled into Olivin’s shirt. She held on to him as though he were her sole lifeline in the current sweeping her away. He tasted like fresh winter snow, yet his body was as hot as fire, as hard as marble.
Olivin’s hands took on a life of their own. They slid down her body and grabbed her hips. He eased back, pulling her onto him, their kiss unbroken.
His hair was spun silk between her fingers. She grabbed it as he gripped her rear, massaging the muscle there. A gasp escaped her lips, one he eagerly caught with his own mouth.
The kisses caused her to tremble with the force of her restraint. Her thoughts were blissfully quiet. The worries of the day smoothed away with the force of his caress.
Olivin nipped at her throat and Eira sighed softly into the cool night air, exhaling tension and doubt. He kissed and licked away any flashes of pain from his bites. Eira’s fingers dug into his shoulders, holding him tighter, closer. Her hips pressed forward slightly and her eyes rolled back at the feeling of all of him so near and ready.
Nails digging into her back, he drew a shuddering breath against her flesh. “You are every nightmare and every delightful dream I have ever had wrapped into the shape of a woman. I’m damn near sure you will be the death of me, and yet I welcome you with open arms.”
His words drew consciousness back to her, the heat of the moment becoming a simmer in the pit of her stomach. Eira met his eyes once more, hands shifting to caress his face. His strong jaw. The dark arch of his brows. There were scars that hadn’t been there during the tournament. A nick extended from his temple to cheek, carving a thin, white line through his left eyebrow.
“Tell me, do you feel for me, Eira? Do you want me as I want you?” he whispered. “I can be everything that you need. Just say the word and I will remake the world in your image.” He searched her expression. The fleeting moment of hesitation. And inhaled between his teeth. “Or…I can be nothing. But I must know at least if there is still possibility ahead. Because I see him with you, with his hands on you”—Olivin’s fingers tightened at her waist, where Cullen had supported her earlier—“and my insides knot. I grow hot with a rage and frustration I’ve never known before.” He shook his head slowly. “My emotions are hooked on your little finger.”
“I’m so sorry.” She pressed her forehead into his and shook her head. “I never meant to do this to you—to us. Things happened so fast and every time I think I catch my bearings, I’m gone again. A compass spinning with no headway.”
“But there’s yet hope?” he murmured, kissing her lightly between the words.
“One moment, I want his hands on me, holding me. The next, I meet your eyes and all I can think of is them staring down at me—you over me,” she admitted. The confession should have felt more shameful. “You…him… I am lost.”
“Then I will be lost with you.”
Eira leaned away, studying his face. She smoothed her hands over his cheeks. An easy smile carved his lips.
“You look…surprised?” he whispered.
“I would’ve expected you to offer to be my North Star, my guide map.” The side of her index finger ran up his earlobe and along the outside of his ear, reaching its point before slipping back down.
