He smiled against my skin, and warmth bloomed through me. I huddled closer to that warmth. Closed my eyes and focused on the feel of his heart beating rapidly in time with mine.
After a moment, I started to turn, thinking of repositioning myself for sleep, but he placed a hand on the small of my back and held me in place. His other hand brushed against my cheek as he said, “Let me fall asleep inside you.”
The thought made me blush, but suddenly, I wanted nothing more in the world than to do exactly what he’d asked. I settled halfway on top of him, straddling his body and sinking down into a position that was surprisingly comfortable. He was already growing hard again. The feeling of fullness, along with the occasional twitch of desire against my inner walls, rendered me into something soft and boneless, all warmth and sensation and utter contentment.
I never wanted to leave.
I looked up at Aleks from under my lashes. He cupped my cheek and angled my face toward his.
“I love you,” he whispered against my lips.
I repeated the words back to him several times as we drifted toward dreaming, reveling in the way they made his heart beat faster and his arms circle me more tightly every time.
We slept for an hour, at most, before a combination of heat and arousal stirred me back awake—but it was the most blissful hour I’d had in a very long time.
His eyes fluttered open shortly after mine. For a moment, we just stared at one another, the smoldering embers of desire rekindling.
But there was something else stirring beneath that desire, now: Uncertainty. Fear. My stomach knotted. I rolled off of him and onto my side, facing the window, watching drops of rain slide down it. Aleks followed my lead, loosely draping an arm around me.
“I wish we could stay like this,” I whispered.
“I know.” His hold tightened, pulling me closer once more. “Me too.”
Several minutes passed in silence. I concentrated on the steady thrum of his heartbeat against my back. Out of habit, I soon found myself trying to listen to his thoughts, to connect as we’d managed to do in the days prior…
Only to hit a wall of silence.
Just like I had when I’d tried to connect with his thoughts outside of Rose Point—and several times after that.
Was he blocking me out on purpose?
Or was something more sinister at work? Was it part of the effect Lorien’s soul was having on him? I wanted to stay in a state of ignorant bliss, but suddenly all I could think about was the reason I’d sought Aleks out in the first place, hours ago.
Sitting up, I quietly said, “I think we need to talk.”
“…About?”
“About how you’ve been strange since we collected that piece of Lorien’s soul.”
“I was strange long before that.” He yawned. “So were you. Maybe that’s why we fit so well together.”
“Maybe.” I tried to smile but didn’t quite manage it. “It seems like something new is bothering you, though.”
He shifted, rearranging the blankets tangled around us. For a moment, I thought he might wrap himself up in them and roll away from me. But he seemed to decide against it, releasing a soft sigh and taking my hand instead. He draped a blanket around us both and pulled me to his chest.
Tempting as it was to simply nestle closer to him and disappear beneath that blanket for a while, I forced myself to keep pushing for answers.
“You’re…you’re scaring me, Aleks.”
He went still. Every muscle tensed. I’m not sure he was even breathing.
“I just need to know you’re okay.”
With obvious effort, he made himself exhale. He brushed a strand of hair from my face. “I’m fine. Just a little off balance. It will pass, I’m sure.”
I started to lift my eyes to his, but my gaze snagged on the downward curve of his lips. I didn’t know what else to say, so I kissed him instead, just trying to get back to the way things had been only an hour before.
He returned the kiss, but there was a distance to it. A hesitation that hadn’t been there earlier.
