When he spoke, his voice was a rough, rasping growl. “Won’t they?”
She couldn’t have pulled away even if he hadn’t been holding her. Her clothes should have slithered off her body, stripped away by that look alone.
She swallowed hard.Just an act,she tried to remind herself.It’s just an act.
At the moment, it was very hard to remember that.
He pulled her out of the dark, into a square of light. Dimly, she was aware that they were standing right next to the girls’ cabin, but the whole world seemed very far away, and retreating further every second. She could see him clearly now. The cozy glow from the cabin windows painted his familiar features with soft yellow light, but his eyes still held that wild, animal glint.
Very slowly, Buck’s hand slid up her spine. Honey’s pulse thundered in her ears as his fingers slipped under her hair to grip the back of her neck. His eyes never leaving hers, he dipped his head, coming closer.
Oh God, are we doing this? I think we’re doing this.
“One kiss,” Buck breathed, so softly she could barely hear the words past the thundering beat of her own heart. “That’s all. Okay?”
Just an act. Just an act.She held onto the words like a life raft in the rising sea of her own desire.It’s just a kiss. Stay cool, Honey. Don’t make this weird.
She moistened her lips. “Okay.”
She’d expected him to go for a light, chaste peck; just a brush of mouths. Even that might have been enough to melt her into a puddle.
Instead, with the lightest pressure, he tilted her head to one side. Stubble rasped against her cheek; the fluttering pulse point behind her ear. Lips barely touching her skin, he inhaled, long and deep.
Warmth radiated through her veins from that single point of not-quite-contact. She bit her lip, fighting not to gasp as he moved lower. Slowly, unhurriedly, he breathed in her scent again; moved a little, and did it again.
The side of her neck. The hollow of her shoulder. He pulled her t-shirt back a little, exploring the edge of her collarbone; dipped into the base of her throat. Again and again, as though each part of her held some unique, exquisite aroma.
By the time he raised his face back to hers, his arms were all that kept her upright. Her whole body felt liquid. She drew in a shaky breath.
“Okay,” she said, trying to sound casual, and not as if he’d just set her every nerve on fire bybreathing, for crying out loud. “From now on, I’m not letting you duck out of the drama activities. I don’t know about anyone else, butI’mconvinced.”
Buck’s pupils were blown wide. The whole moon shone in them, full and silver in a dark, feral sky.
“Honey,” he growled. “I haven’t even started.”
His mouth found hers.
Everything else vanished, wiped out in that white-hot moment. There was nothing sweet about his kiss; nothing civilized. He pressed into her with savage urgency, like he was starving, like she was all that could keep him from death.
The warmth that had flooded her earlier was nothing to the shock that went through her veins now. It was like being kissed by a storm; like being hit by lightning.
Her back hit the wall of the cabin. Buck stayed with her, never losing contact, his mouth locked on hers.
She fisted her hands in his staff t-shirt, yanking him even closer. Buck made a low, hungry sound, tightening his grip. His hard body pressed her back against the rough logs. A deep, wolfish growl rumbled through his chest.
And behind them, on the other side of the wall, a tiny voice said, distinctly: “Woohoo!”
Honey froze. So did Buck.
“Estelle!” whispered a different voice. “Stop spying!”
“Oh, like you haven’t been keeping track of them with your pegasus senses this whole time, Beth.”
“Keep it down, you two! They’ll hear you!”
Buck broke off the kiss, pulling back. They stared at each other, breathing hard.
“So? He’s definitely not leaving afterthat. I told you this would work, Flora.”
