He stills, then looks over at me. “You and I both know that isn’t something I would do.”
I wait for him to take a couple more steps before I move even closer. “You and I both know you’re lying.”
He ignores me and takes another step.
“In fact, I’d go so far as to say you were jealous of that man who had his face in my hair.” I decide to add a bit of a lie, just to rile him up. “And his hands on my breasts.” I put my hands on my chest for emphasis.
He catches my movement out of the corner of his eye, then he turns. The log rocks. He leans with it, trying to stay on, but the log wins, and he ends up on his ass in the mud.
Brevan glares at me. “You cheated.”
“You’re too easily distracted,” I say. “They’re just breasts.”
“Stop saying that,” he says.
“What, breasts? Does that bother you?”
“Seriously, stop it.” His face is red. This is getting to him.
I lean down and whisper, “Do mybreastsbother you?”
He grabs me and pulls me into the mud with him. I gasp, then throw a handful of mud at him. He catches my wrist and I freeze.
The way he’s looking at me is different than usual. There’s something almost feral about it. Dangerous.
My heart races, and my mouth goes dry. He reaches for me and wipes mud from my cheeks, then uses his thumb to clear the mud from my lips. His hand lingers on my face, cupping my chin.
I am certain he can hear my heartbeat.
He blinks a few times, then shakes his head and pulls away. “I’ve never been great at the log.” He stands, then offers his hand.
I take it and he pulls me up, then helps me out of the mud pit.
Then, he leans closer and lowers his voice. “But I’ve never given up when I see something I want.”
My breath hitches and shivers run down my spine. It takes every bit of my willpower not to pull him back into the mud with me.
He releases my hand and starts walking. “Come on. We have more to do before we finish today.”
Well, that’s one way to get me to return to reality. “You can’t be serious.”
“Ladders,” he says. “Climb, then over the wall, then back down the other side.”
So we’re just going to pretend like that never happened. Like he didn’t have his hand on my face. Like he didn’t look at me like he wanted to devour me whole.
Like I didn’t want him to.
Shoving the thought away, I trudge to the ladder. I need to clear my mind. Focus. Anything but the barrage of images of Brevan with his shirt off.
Katherine and Juliette are both reading in the library when I arrive. Brevan is still covered in mud, after insisting on staying outside my room while I bathed, then escorting me here.
“What happened to you?” Juliette asks him.
“Oh, she got you to try the log.” Katherine giggles. “I’m glad I was in here instead.”
Juliette wrinkles her nose. “You realize there is running water. You can bathe.”
“Later,” he says.
