Uh… what?!
“That’s how my parents explained it to me, anyway,” Rhys continued after a moment. “I wasn’t really with it the first time we touched –”
“Uh, you mean when you stuck my fingers in your mouth,” Maisie pointed out, and Rhys winced.
“Yeah, that. But my point is, even if I was too zonked to fully realize it, the moment I saw you again in the rain, Iknew.It’s you, Maisie – you’re my mate. The person I was fated to be with. We have a bond I can’t really explain, except Idoknow it exists. You felt it too, right?”
Maisie stared up at him, her eyes wide.
It soundedwaytoo fantastical to be real, but then…
More fantastical than a guy who can turn into a griffin? More fantastical than there being a whole agency of law-enforcing shifters who track down shifter criminals? More fantastical than a quokka hacker who lives in a terrace house in Bondi Junction with his cassowary girlfriend?
Put like that… Maisie thought she could accept being soul-bonded to the most handsome guy she’d ever seen in her life.
And he has to know by now he doesn’t have to pull this kind of thing if he wants to do the deed,she thought.He’s not making it up just to get me into bed. He wouldn’t have to! He flew me out to a private island paradise for God’s sake!
But the desperation in Rhys’s eyes told her this wasn’t some fast seduction move. And hadn’t she felt a connection with him since the first moment they’d met? Time and time again, she’dfelt, somehow, that she could trust him, even if she didn’t know why.
“I get it, it’s a big bit of news to swallow,” Rhys said, and Maisie suddenly realized she hadn’t actuallysaidanything in response to his soul-bearing.
I could say something so filthy right now about swallowing big things,she thought… but in the end, she decided that it wouldn’t quite be appropriate. Rhys had clearly been nervous about telling her this and unsure about how it would be received. So in the end, what else could she do?
Standing on tip-toes in the sand, Maisie did what she’d been longing to do ever since the first moment she’d laid eyes on him, and brought their lips together.
She’d never imagined anything like this – and certainly, no other kiss she’d ever experienced had felt anything like this before. But then, she wondered, feeling just the slightest bit faint, perhaps it was just because she’d never been kissing her fated mate before.
His mouth was hot against hers as his tongue swept into her mouth – she parted her lips quickly and eagerly, returning his fervor with her own. She couldn’t think of any better way to tell him that she accepted everything he said – that she not only believed him when he said they were destined for each other, but that she willingly,gladlyaccepted it,wantedit.
There was no other possible answer. She’d felt the way electricity seemed to spark between them even when they weren’t touching, the instant, almost animal connection between them. She’d never been more attracted to anyone before in her life, but more than that, she’dknownhim somehow – as if her soul had just been waiting for him to show up, and it knew him from the first moment it had encountered him.
It sounds like something out of a romance novel,Maisie thought hazily as she threw her arms around Rhys’s neck, drawing him closer.But it’s not. This is real. This is real life.
Rhys’s hands came up, cupping her jaw and lifting her face to him. Maisie shuddered, pressing herself against him. His palms against her skin were warm and callused, his thumbs stroking over her cheekbones as if she was something infinitely precious.
Warmth gathered within her, winding tightly in the pit of her belly as their kisses grew hungrier, more demanding, and Rhys’s broad chest pressed against her breasts.
Maisie couldn’t stand the fact that there were layers of clothes between them – she felt a growing wildness within herself, one she’d never felt before. It seemed impossible how much she wanted him, but right now, all she could think about was how badly she wanted to feel his skin against hers. Her fingers were trembling with the force of her desire as she started fumbling with the buttons of his shirt, frantic to have it off him – but then, just as she’d started tearing the first few buttons open, Rhys suddenly pulled back.
“Does this mean… does this mean you accept me as your mate?” he asked, his eyes darkened with lust, his voice husky. He was breathing heavily, his tanned cheeks flushed.
Maisie stared up at him. “What the hell do you think?!” she cried, too crazed with desire by this point to eventhinkabout phrasing it more politely.
Luckily, she heard the rumble of laughter in Rhys’s chest as he leaned down to kiss her again, deeply, passionately, as if it was the only thing he’d been made to do – that either of them had been made to do.
If he doesn’t hurry up and get naked soon, I don’t know what I’ll– Maisie began to think – but the thought was never completed, because at that moment, a sudden rush of cold sweptover her legs and splashed up her thighs, knocking her off-balance and sending her toppling.
A wave!she realized after a moment, by which point she’d already let out a little yelp of surprise and almost-but-not-quite regained her balance. But just as she’d started to right herself again, the wave rushed back from the shore and the sand beneath her feet gave way, sending her sprawling.
Laughing, she tangled her hands in Rhys’s shirt and brought him down with her – though she had no doubt whatsoever he could have kept his balance easily, he fell with her, until they were both lying together in the wet sand, locked at the mouth, his arms around her back, pulling her against him.
Maisie didn’t care that she was soaking wet now and covered in soggy sand – the only thing she cared about was the feeling of his hands on the bare skin of her back, his lips against hers. Together, they rolled over until she was straddling him, her thighs either side of his hips, her hands on his chest.
She pulled back a little, breathless. Around them, the water rushed up onto the shore, before receding again.
“As much as I’m enjoying the wet look on you, perhaps we should take this elsewhere,” Maisie managed to get out, in between the heaving pants of her breath.
And it was true – Rhysdidlook good right now, with his lightly curled hair plastered to his forehead, his shirt sticking to his chest.
