TEN
Alastair’s lips are so familiar and sweet, but I shouldn’t be here. Why is that?
I run my fingers through his blond hair as he pushes my dress up my thighs and moves my panties aside. His head is between my legs. I want to stop him, but all I can do is close my eyes.
When I look again, it’s Brayden’s messy brown hair. He kisses my inner thigh, his brown eyes glancing up to meet mine as my uneasiness fades. Now I’m aching. His tongue. His fingers. I want to see his face.
I reach for him…
Knocking pulled her out of the dream.Alastair and Brayden—Goddess above, what the hell was that about?The already dark day had shifted into true twilight. Disoriented, Scarlett startled at her unfamiliar surroundings before remembering she wasn’t in her room at home in Soleil, but rather in Brayden’s castle in Clair de Lune.
More knocking at the door. “Scarlett, are you in there? It’s me, Brayden.”
Longing pulsed in her still. Scarlett rubbed her face to clear thedream from her head. “Come in.”
“Were you sleeping?” He stood by the doorway looking unsure.
She stared at him, her cheeks burning hot. She couldn’t stop picturing his head between her legs. “I’m up now.” She pushed herself upright.
“Should I come back later?” He stepped backward.
She shook her head. “No. I should stay up unless I want to be awake all night. Have you seen Beni and Manon? Are they all right?”
“They’re fine. Manon is talking to Lachlan. Beni made friends on the archery field and was out all afternoon. He’s in the dining room with them now.”
“Oh, good.” Scarlett tried to look anywhere but at him.
Brayden sat at the foot of her bed, smiling gently. Her face grew hotter. She’d been so turned on in the dream, and he was right here—
Stop it.
She tried to clear her mind, but it didn’t help when Brayden asked, “Feeling better?”
“Yes.” She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stood with surprising ease. She looked at Brayden as she smoothed her black silk dress and fluffed her clean hair. It was nice to be clean in front of him, if nothing else, but the way he was watching her reassured her she looked better than just freshly showered.
Scarlett walked around the room testing her balance without the cane. Everything seemed back to normal. “I still feel…”
Her dad’s face flashed into her mind, and she let out a shuddering breath. It was still all too much. Everything she’d processed during the energy healing had helped, but there was so much grief left—grief so potent it forced itself out of her without her permission.
Brayden enveloped her in his arms. She leaned into him, inhaling his woodsy scent. A spark of joy lit in her chest frombeing near him, but mixed with her grief, it confused her. Was that what the dream had been about—jumping from Alastair to Brayden in her imagination just to stay distracted from the pain? She was too tired to make sense of it.
“Is there anything I can do?” he asked.
“This.” She held him tighter, so grateful there wasn’t glass between them.
“All right.” He rubbed her back.
As she took a few deep breaths, the heaviness in her heart eased somewhat. Scarlett looked at him. He smiled at her, his gaze soft with affection. She’d never been able to see all of that in the mirror.
“There is one other thing you could do for me,” she said, her voice hesitant, because she didn’t want their closeness to end.
His fingers stilled on her back. “Name it.”
She wanted to ask for lots of things, but the fate of her country hung in the balance, and she couldn’t afford to be distracted. Scarlett pulled out of his grip and took a step back.
“I need paper and a pen to start writing letters to people in Soleil.”
He tilted his head to one side as his fingers brushed his lips. She could practically hear him thinking she should relax, not write letters. But then his easygoing smile returned a second later.
