“And how are the others going to find Kit if they can’t follow our mate bond?” The words come out sharply, but I don’t censor myself.Instead, I fold my arms over my chest, glaring at Captain Finch as I wait for him to respond.
He cocks his head to one side again in a move that’s reminiscent of his namesake, although the effect is ruined slightly by the tentacles waving about. They’re currently moving up and down rhythmically, almost like they’re trying to calm me down.
“The spectacles detect magic, don’t they? And I’m sure this sorceress will have surrounded herself with nothing else.”
I deflate slightly. He’s right.
Torin gently squeezes my thigh. “Is there anything that’s helped you feel better? You said it’s grown worse the longer you’ve been apart from your skin, but what if it’s Kit you’re missing?” His palm is red hot on my leg as he makes small circles with his thumb. Heat travels through me in a wave, right the way up to my cheeks as I gaze from his hand up to his face and back again.
“You, er, touching me actually seems to help,” I say hoarsely. “I felt better at the library and then again when we were at the hotel, uh, getting ready.”
When both he and Aster kissed me, I mean.
He squeezes my thigh again, and I shift, squeezing my legs together as another wave of heat rolls through me. “Have you experimented to see what specifically seems to help? With Aster maybe?”
I shake my head, slightly mesmerised by the banked heat in his eyes when I meet them head on. “I haven’t experimented. Everything’s been such chaos, I just... haven’t.”
“Well then, maybe you should try it and see what helps.” Torin clears his throat, his thumb trailing over my lower lip. “So that you’re at your best when we reach land.”
Finch jumps to his feet, rattling the table slightly and gathering his notes and diagrams. “I think that’s my cue to leave. You might want to move things to somewhere more private if you don’t want Cookie coming at you with a meat thermometer.”
That seems to shake me and Torin out of the lustful haze we lost ourselves in for a moment. I’m warm and tingling all over, but oddly enough, my headache doesn’t seem so bad.
“Your colour is starting to come back to your cheeks,” he murmurs. “And Cap’s right. This is not the best place—”
“To experiment,” I add, my eyes locked onto his thick lower lip. When I dart a look around again, Captain Finch has gone. I get to my feet, holding out my hand. “Come on, then.”
Chapter 29
Torin
Reva’s fiery gaze bores into mine, and I’m entranced as she licks her lips before swallowing hard. My skin feels hot and too tight for my body, and from the way she’s been squirming in her seat, I’d say she’s equally affected.
I didn’t expect for things to take this turn tonight. I’d noticed that she seems to relax whenever I’ve got my arm around her or when she’s holding Aster’s hand or he’s rubbing his hand up and down her arm. The two of them touch a lot without even seeming to realise it, and so it makes sense that she’d be feeling touch-starved from not being in contact with Kit for so long.
She tugs on my hand, leading me along the passageway until we reach the cabin she shares with Aster.
“I don’t have to be involved,” I blurt out. “I can come in with you, but I don’t have to do anything.”
Am I suggesting I’ll torture myself by watching her ‘experiment’ with Aster while I sit on my hands, ready to cuddle her if she needs it? Yes, I am.
It might be torture for me, but if it helps, then I’m willing to do anything.
“Is that what you want?” she asks. Her chest is heaving and I can see the pulse pounding at her clavicle. I want to run my tongue over the spot and taste her warm skin.
A little growl rolls through my chest before I can stifle it, and Reva grins.
Stepping forward until she’s pressed up against the door with me towering over her, I run my hand up and down her side. “What I want is to kiss you, lick you, touch you everywhere. I want your taste on my tongue and the feeling of your flesh beneath me. I want to watch you fall apart and to bring you back together again. I want you todestroyme, and I want to watch you do the same to him.”
She blinks up at me, eyes glassy and pupils dilated with need. “Well then, all right. I like the sound of all those things.”
Opening the door, she steps inside and flicks on the wall light, leaving the room just light enough to see, but not so bright we blind Aster. There’s the sound of rustling covers and then she’s stepping over to him, straddling him while he blinks up at her like she’s a goddess who’s come to pay a visit to an unsuspecting acolyte.
He glances over at me, eyes wide, and I lean against the door with my arms folded. Reva spells out something right the way across his chest, and he grabs for the little device Jack gave him, attaching it to his ear with clumsy fingers.
“Torin thinks I might be touch-starved,” she murmurs, running her fingers over his chest again. “He thinks we need to experiment to see if intimate touch might make me feel better.”
Aster’s eyebrows shoot up, and he looks over her shoulder at me again,You really said that?His expression seems to say.
