“I do want.”
“You don’t know what you’re asking for.”
“Then show me.”
His eyes flared bright, pure green flames in the darkness. For one endless moment, she thought he would give in. She thought she’d finally broken through those walls and found the male hiding beneath.
Then his hands fisted at his sides and he stepped back so sharply she nearly stumbled.
“I can’t.”
The words were wrenched from somewhere deep inside him, raw with pain and want and despair.
“Tarek—”
“I can’t, Jessa. Not like this. Not when I’m—” He broke off, chest heaving. “I need to… I have to…”
He was gone before she could respond. Running out the door and into the darkness of the forest, leaving her breathless and aching and more confused than ever.
She slumped against the wall, trying to steady her racing heart. Her lips throbbed. Her whole body throbbed, still humming with the echoes of his touch.
What is he so afraid of?
She looked at the tapestry, still lying on the table where he’d left it. The cold, commanding face stared back at her—a male of power and authority, everything Tarek claimed he wasn’t anymore.
But that male was still in there. She’d felt him in the kiss, in the barely leashed hunger, the desperate restraint, and the way his whole body had trembled with the effort of holding himself back.
He wasn’t afraid of hurting her. He was afraid of wanting her too much.
She touched her swollen lips and smiled.
I’m not afraid,she thought.And I’m not giving up.
The night air beyond the den was cold and dark, but somewhere out there, Tarek was fighting his own demons.
She would wait. And when he came back, she would be ready.
CHAPTER 15
The storm came with the dawn, dark clouds rolling over the mountains like a tide of ink swallowing the sky.
Tarek stood at the entrance to his den, watching lightning fracture the horizon. Rain came down in sheets so thick he could barely see the tree line—a wall of water and fury that would make venturing outside dangerous even for him.
Trapped.
The word should have filled him with frustration. He’d spent half the night in the forest, running until his muscles burned, trying to outpace the memory of Jessa’s mouth and her hands and the sounds she’d made when he pressed her against the wall. He’d returned just before dawn, slipping back into his converted storage room and lying on his narrow cot, staring at the ceiling and willing his body to calm.
It hadn’t worked. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw her. He still wanted her with an intensity that bordered on madness.
And now the storm had taken away his only escape route.
For the best,his beast rumbled.Running is no longer the answer.
He closed his eyes, letting the cool spray of rain mist his face. His beast was right—a terrifying admission, considering how often he’d fought against those instincts. But he couldn’t keep doing this. He couldn’t keep kissing Jessa like she was oxygen and then fleeing into the night like a coward.
She deserved better.
She deserves the truth, his beast corrected.All of it.
