His tone was clipped. “No.”
“But—”
Jack stood, tense and angry. “I left my people three years ago.”
She knew she should leave it alone. “Why did you leave them?”
He faced her. “Do you think that sharing my bed entitles you to ask all these questions?”
She felt like she’d been slapped, and she gasped, turning abruptly. Jack threw his dinner clown and marched away, into the woods. Candice watched him go and wanted to weep. She had only wanted to learn more about him. It seemed that she knew nothing at all. She hadn’t meant to pry. But there had been no call for him to attack her that way—not after all the intimacy they’d shared.
And now the intimacy lay shattered in the night around them.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
He walked for a long time, and his anger cooled. He hadn’t meant to fly off the handle like that. He was sorry. He was more than sorry. He thought about the beauty of last night and today, of Candice warm and loving in his arms, her smile brilliant and just for him, and he felt a physical pain—he didn’t want to lose her. As all the gods knew, he would have to give her up soon enough—and wasn’t half of his reason for staying behind because he wanted time with her?
In a way, sharing the burdens of his life with her would be a relief. But he wasn’t ready. There was too much between them—her white blood, the prejudices he’d already witnessed, her future. He walked for a long time, brooding.
It was midway into the night before he returned, clutching something in his hands, his heart straining his ribs with worry that she wouldn’t forgive him. He ducked into thegohwahwith a torch and set it in the ground. One glance at her stiff back told him she was awake.
“Candice?”
She whipped upright, facing him. Her face was tear-streaked, and it tore his heart. “I suppose you were with your ex-wife tonight!”
He knelt beside her. “You don’t believe that.”
“It must be after midnight,” she cried.
He didn’t take his eyes from her face. “I was making this,” he said, handing her a woven feather headband. Her eyes went to the beautiful blue, gray, and red band. There were touches of silver and gold in it. “I’m sorry,” he said softly.
She looked at him, then at the headband. “It’s beautiful,” she said.
“I don’t want to fight with you,” Jack whispered, touching her face.“Shijii …”
As if on cue, Candice leaned forward, and he pulled her against him. He held her tight, eyes closed, and a long breath escaped him. The feather headband fell to the ground.
Candice clutched his neck, and her mouth sought his wildly. He opened to her, she plunged her tongue into his mouth. He fell backward, she rode him down. On her knees, still kissing him, she began rubbing her bare breasts against his chest. The tips grew hard and tight. She caught a hank of his hair and clutched it almost painfully.
Jack let her be the aggressor, his heart fighting the confines of his chest. He’d never had a woman attack him before. She was biting his neck, all the while rubbing her breasts with their hard, enlarged nipples against him. Then she lowered her naked, wet groin to his and began a rapid, rhythmic grinding. He groaned.
She reached down and fumbled with his drawstring, her breath loud and harsh. He looked at her beautiful, passion-glazed face, the parted lips, the flushed cheeks, the tangled, disheveled mane of hair. “God.” He groaned as she grabbed his thick member and rubbed the tip against her swollen flesh. Then she pushed him inside her and impaled herself.
She rode him hard and easy, fast and slow. Jack was spinning out of control too soon. This was Candice, his wife, his beautiful wife … he arched upward, shooting his hot seed into her again and again.
When he opened his eyes she was moving slowly, still flushed, so magnificent it took his breath away. She stopped moving and sat panting, watching him in the torchlight.
He pulled her into his arms. “Forgive me,shijii.”
“You’re forgiven,” she said huskily.
“Even for losing control?”
She moaned slightly, rubbing against his thigh, her lips seeking his. “I wanted to watch you,” she whispered hoarsely.
Her words knocked the breath right out of him. He rolled her onto her back, nuzzling her breasts, reaching down to fondle the hot, wet flesh between her legs. “Now let me watch you,” he said.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
