He didn’t know how to communicate that it was, but he hoped that the expression on his face, and his lack of reciprocation to her preemptive strike would put her at ease. Suspended in a quiet moment for what felt like an eternity, Grace and Kilian could only stare back at one another. Both of them still half-convinced that the other was only trying to gain an upper hand, there was a break in their tension as Kilian repositioned his hand to keep Grace securely in his arms. Kilian’s hand slid up her side, pulling up the hem of her tank top and gently grazing her bare skin, cradled her back.
Intrigued by Kilian’s deliberate action to hold her in place against him, Grace felt a tingling sensation travel up the center of her back. She curled into him, pressing her torso against his own. As her face moved closer to his, Kilian watched a dark strand of her hair fall from the heavy curtain of hair over her shoulder. It landed just in front of her eye, catching the sunlight—the natural color of her hair looked warmer in the early morning sun, transforming into multiple shades of golden brown underneath the light.
With their bodies pressed together like this, he was instantly reminded of how she’d felt against him moments before, in his bed. The gentle warmth that radiated from her, as well as the rapid fluttering of her pulse that he could feel through the thin material of her shirt. Kilian lifted his hand to her face, brushing aside the piece of fringe that had fallen into her face. His fingers moved across her skin, feeling the soft texture of her hair as he tucked the hair back into place.
The gentle touch caused a scarlet blush to rise to Grace’s face as she stared at Kilian, unable to fully believe that he was the one making her feel this way—to go from the unbridled rage and embarrassment she’d felt just moments ago to this. Grace couldn’t hold herself back any longer. Acting purely out of impulse, Grace pulled Kilian closer to her.
Their lips met softly. Grace pushed herself towards Kilian and kissed him impatiently. Letting out a noise of surprise, Kilian’s hands wrapped around Grace. He returned her kiss, his free hand sliding up into her hair to hold her mouth against his. Their lips melded together, into shapes and patterns that Grace didn’t think was possible. Her tongue reached into Kilian’s mouth, running along the side of his tongue as she slid her hands up the sides of his neck and into his hair, pulling at the dark tendrils with just enough force to pull a soft groan from him.
To Grace’s excitement, Kilian moved playfully with her, sending waves of pleasure rippling through her body, a body he moved with an agility that made her head spin.
Kilian stepped away from the wall, allowing Grace to wind her legs around him. Lacing her ankles together at the center of his back, Grace threw her arms around his shoulders and moved her lips to focus on the length of his neck. Leaving a trail of kisses down to the tops of his shoulders, careful to leave gentler kisses on the skin she had pounded with her fists earlier, Grace held onto Kilian’s strong body when she felt him move further away from the wall.
In the back of her mind, she could feel them moving towards Kilian’s bed—but the thought of lying there with him didn’t cause the instant recoiling that she had come to expect from thinking of Kilian. With each step that Kilian took across his bedroom, the budding excitement in her chest grew and she wondered if he could feel her pulse quicken underneath his touch, if he could feel the way her breathing hitched with each movement of his hand along her skin. Landing gently on her back in the mess of sheets and blankets on Kilian’s bed, Grace’s eyes popped open.
Hovering above her, Kilian’s eyes were softened with lust. The triumphant smile Grace had been dreading to see was nowhere in sight—his mouth, wet from their kisses, hung open. Lifting her eyes to meet his, Grace could see the same, unspoken desire that she felt clearly displayed on his face. Without breaking the tender eye contact between them, Kilian lowered his naked body on top of hers and, with a gentle hand, pulled up the hem of her tank top. He eased himself down her body, leaving a hot line of kisses on the bits of her exposed skin—the crook of her neck and the slopes of her shoulders, the space in between her breasts. He moved his lips along the surface of her skin slowly, looking up at her as he lowered his lips onto Grace’s bare hip.
Having never imagined the feeling of Kilian’s lips on her sensitive mid-section, Grace gasped, delightfully surprised by a strong tingling that spread out in either direction from the spot that Kilian had pressed his lips to. Moving his lips across her hips in a straight line, Kilian ran his tongue along Grace’s skin and she arched beneath him, relishing the sensation as Kilian’s hands moved up her side quickly, pulling the bottom of Grace’s shirt up her torso.
Grace lifted herself off the bed, feeling the thin fabric of her shirt slip up the center of her back. As she lifted her hands over her head, Kilian pulled the fabric away from her skin and discarded it onto the floor beside the bed. The cool, air-conditioned air found her chest quickly, covering the surface of her torso with gooseflesh. Resisting the urge to cover her naked body with her arms, Grace dared to look up into Kilian’s eyes—finding them already on her face. Unsure if she had expected him to only focus on her body in that moment, Grace found herself surprised by his diligence to look her in the eyes after revealing her body to him for the first time.
“You look so beautiful,” Kilian said, his voice deeper than she expected it to be.
Realizing that he must have sensed her hesitation in the moment, Grace smiled at him and let out a nervous laugh. The blush on her face burned gently, almost sizzling in the cool air of Kilian’s bedroom. He returned her smile as he lowered his body onto hers once more. Their smiles pressed together, melting into a passionate kiss.
Grace moved her hands down Kilian’s naked body, allowing her hands to move over the sizeable shapes of his muscled body. Scratching at the center of his back with her fingernails, she felt an aroused purr move through Kilian’s throat, causing a gentle vibration to move through his lips and into their kiss. Hot air escaped from the sides of his mouth as he laughed, his voice layered with a velvety undertone of lust.
Moaning softly as one of his hands trailed up the outside of her thigh, Grace closed her eyes as Kilian parted her legs, moving in between them. Grace kept her arms around him, letting out a thrilled cry when he pulled her off her back and on top of him. Feeling the heat of his body in between her legs, Grace grinned from ear to ear, pulling the blanket around them as they moved their bodies together.
“Take me,” Grace’s voice dropped into a soft whisper, her words more of an aroused plea than the challenge she had intended it to sound like. Her brow lifted into a low arch.
A wide smile spread across Kilian’s face. His hands reached up for her, grabbing Grace by the waist.
Kilian slid down the dark jeans that she had slept in, enjoying her smooth silky legs, the length of them, the shape of them.
As she lay naked before him, he slid between her legs, their bodies pressed together, and in one smooth thrust, she closed around him.
Kilian’s eyes rolled back in pleasure as he slid deeper into her warm body. As her hands slid along the lean lines of him, he fisted his hands in her hair and moved with her, slowly, enjoying the way her body tensed under his weight.
He pressed his lips to her neck, whispering promises of pleasure as her fingers tangled in his hair.
13
Standing in the living room,Grace placed her hands on her hips.
Gradually, flashes of her and Kilian in his bedroom popped back into mind. She tried to focus on the water in front of her, the waves of murky lake water and the boat-like wakes that the families of ducks left on the glittering surface of the water.
But soon, Grace recalled the feeling of Kilian’s hot breath on her neck and how she moved her hips in time with his own to build the desperate pleasure they both felt. She swore she could hear the way his lips curled around her name, as if he was whispering a dirty secret to her.
She rested against the wall, turning her head to the side to focus on a duck that swam off in a different direction from the group he had been swimming with.
In that moment, she couldn’t help but relate to the duck—she’d broken off from her family as well, even though they were the only reason she’d decided on pursuing the book. Would her father ever forgive her if he found out that she’d partnered up with Kilian to get it? Would the book even matter to her father at that point, or would he disregard the entire gesture, turning her method back on her as if to ask why one good deed erased a bad one?
As the duck swam closer to the lake house, Grace could make out the deep blue color of his tail feathers and the calmness with which he floated along the surface of the water. She tried to focus on that instead of what her father might say in response to her betrayal.
The sound of the shower cutting off in the bathroom behind her pulled Grace out of her reverie, out of her thoughts about her overprotective father. Realizing she only had a few moments of quiet to herself before Kilian burst out of the bathroom, she turned her attention to the items that they had poured themselves over the night before. Aside from the map they’d found in her father’s safe, the rest of their book-hunting materials were there: the regional maps of Ireland, the list of locations they’d collaborated on by comparing the maps, and the collection of stories that had been passed down to her.
Placing each of the regional maps of Ireland in her bag first, Grace picked up the book of stories from her childhood and admired the beautifully-inscribed cover. It was the color of jade, the title printed on top of the vibrant, pine-tree green with a delicate brushstroke in the color of copper. Dashing away any lingering thoughts of her father, Grace tossed the hardback story book in there as well, opting to keep the notepad out in case they ran into anything they needed to keep track of. Slinging her backpack over her shoulder, she pulled at the adjustable straps until the weight fell comfortably into the curve of her spine.
