His eyes flicked to her extended hand, but he made no attempt to take it.
Before she could stop herself, Orelia sat down on his lap and straddled him.
Vade braced himself with his palms flat on the ground behind him. “Is this your attempt at flirting?”
She loosely draped her arms around his neck and tilted her head. “Just one dance. It’ll be fun.”
He blinked rapidly, his gaze landing on her thighs wrapped around him. The leaves of her skirt had parted, showing off the majority of her legs.
Vade swallowed hard. “It’s just the moon making you act like this.”
Orelia pulled his eyes to hers with two fingertips under his chin. His beard was soft on the pads of her fingers, and she wondered what it would feel like in . . .other. . .places. She felt herself drifting closer, her lips drawn to his.
He stopped her with a hand on her chest. “Don’t.”
The roughness of his palm on her skin ignited her. “Why not? You kissed me in Ricaboro.”
He didn’t push her away, but his hand was firm, not letting her get any closer. Full lips were inches from hers, taunting her. She wanted to taste them.
“That was playing a part,” Vade said. “And I don’t kiss, I fuck, remember?”
“But you kissed the barmaid.”
He cocked his head. “Did I?”
She pictured the woman sitting in his lap similar to how she was now, growing flustered with jealousy. “The two of you were at the table for quite a while.”
He looked into her eyes, face only a few inches from hers. “I never kissed her. She tried, but I didn’t allow it. Besides, you don’t want to get involved with someone like me. I would destroy you.”
“It’s just a kiss, Vade. I’m not asking you to be with me forever.”
There was a flash of a soft emotion across his face she couldn’t place, but the tenderness quickly melted away. “If you want soft and gentle, look somewhere else.”
She leaned into him, bringing her lips almost to his. “What if that’s not what I want?” She had never been so forward, and a hot thrill ran through her.
“Orelia . . .” Her name came out strained, his hand sliding up her neck and into her hair. Vade swiped a thumb across her cheek, his body tight as a bow string, like it was taking everything in him not to kiss her.
She cupped his face, body aflame from his touch. “Please, Vade. I want this.”
When he brushed his thumb over her plump bottom lip, a masculine growl came out of him.
Orelia went in for the kiss.
Vade stood up so fast that she fell off his lap.
He paced, raking a hand through his hair.
She rose, wiped the dirt off her clothes, and blew out a frustrated breath. “You sleep with a woman in every town we go to, yet you can’t fathom kissing me just once?”
He shook his head. “Those women can handle me. You can’t.”
“I can handle myself. I’m not some inexperienced girl. I fucked Tommen plenty of times, and a few other men.” Though she knew that with Tommen it wasn’t fucking, it was something softer. It was love. Something Vade wasn’t capable of.
He froze. “Don’t throw your sexual escapades in my face, witch.”
“Why not? That’s what you do. Mr. I-have-to-go-to-a-brothel-and-pay-a-woman-because-I-can’t-fathom-true-attachment-to-anyone.”
Vade’s heaviness burst through the room, feeling like someone was squeezing the breath out of her. Shadows snaked around his elbows. “You get into a revealing dress and all of a sudden you think you can tempt me?”
