‘Declan gave it to me. He said it meant Snow White. You know, out here with seven guys and at least one of them is some kind of mountain man. One that isn’t quite human.’
‘His twin, Niamh. There’s two of them. And the rest of us have secrets, too,’ Matt points out, and he’s grinning now. ‘Let me guess, Cillian. Sal told you where she was.’
‘Declan, actually.’ Cillian’s tone is clipped. ‘But he reminded me of Sal’s somewhat predatory nature.’
Matt sighs. ‘You should know better than to let him rile you up,’ he says, pulling on his robes and letting them fall into place. ‘I’m off. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.’ With that, he heads towards the monastery, whistling.
‘Are you all right?’ Cillian asks, letting me go and looking me up and down.
‘Fine,’ I say dryly. ‘I mean other than being held prisoner, and having to cook and clean for seven men.’
‘That’s all they’ve asked you to do?’
‘Why does it matter, Cillian? It’s not like you want anything else from me. No one does.’
He’s shaking his head. ‘That’s… that’s not…’
I push at him once more and this time he lets me go. I turn away, moving past him to walk up the jetty.
‘Where are you going?’
‘To my room, to shower.’
‘No, not until we’ve talked.’
‘Cillian, I’m hot.’
‘Then take off your robe. Get into the water.’
I roll my eyes. ‘Why so that you can hurl more accusations at me for?—’
But instead, he leans over and catches my robe with his hands, pulling it up and over my head. I squeak as I grab for my T-shirt so that he doesn’t pull that up as well.
I stand, watching as he drops his jacket to the wooden boards, followed by his dark dress shirt. I swallow as he toes off his shoes, then undoes his belt and removes his trousers, folding them neatly and placing them on top of his shirt. I stare at him, mesmerised once again by the smoothness of his skin, the firm curve of the muscles in his arms and torso. I’ve seen his tattoos before, but I’m still drawn to reach out for the largest one, the one of Cernunnos. The image is larger than my hand and I can feel his heart beating through my fingers. Then he grins a wicked grin.
The next second, I’m hitting freezing water.
‘You bastard,’ I yell, spluttering back to the surface. Baltic doesn’t even begin to cover it. I tread water as my body adjusts, ducking to the side as Cillian dives in beside me. I swim away from him, but strong fingers grasp my ankle pulling towards him. He wraps his arms around me, his mouth on mine before I can even wipe the water out of my eyes.
He lifts me, so that my chest is level with his and my legs automatically wrap around his waist. My T-shirt rides up onto my hips and there’s a hard bulge in his underwear, pressing against my most sensitive parts. But he doesn’t try and kiss me again. Doesn’t do anything at all.
The last time we met, this man was hunting me, and now I’m letting him do this. I want him to do this. I’m not sure what I’m doing right now, I only know that after everything that’s happened, I’m not going to turn this down. I’ve wanted Cillian Hunter since the moment I met him, and strangely I believe he wants me too. He circles his hips, grinding me against him and leaving no doubt what he wants from me right now. Behind him the crumbling stone walls of the monastery are falling into shadow as the sun sets. I shiver as the breeze hits my shoulders.
‘Cooler now?’
‘Why are you here?’ I want to know what has happened to suddenly make him think I’m his to take. Every time I think he might want me, he pulls away. He’s gone from occasionally kissing me to flaunting his relationship with Vittoria in my face for four years. Yet here he is, again, confusing my feelings and ripping my heart out with every touch. ‘You were going to kill me.’
He closes his eyes for a second, shaking his head before opening them again. ‘I have a duty, and if you hadn’t made it here… The Wild Hunt… Many choose a quick death at my hands once they know they won’t reach sanctuary.’ He swallows. ‘I failed in my duty that night. I couldn’t pull the trigger.’
‘Except you did.’
‘To shoot the deer. And now you’re safe here. Vittoria is convinced that you’re dead and the hunt is over.’ He holds his hand up, showing me his palm, now free from the strange symbol and my name.
‘So now you can run off here to see me whenever you feel like it and then go back to your life with her?’
‘No. That’s not… I’m not going to… I wanted to make sure you were okay,’ he says. ‘I know they can’t harm you, but that’s not to say that one of them wouldn’t… that you wouldn’t choose to?—’
I pull back. ‘So, you’rereallyhere to make sure that I haven’t decided to… what? Fuck any of the seven men you sent me here to live with?’
