“Why? Because you’re enjoying yourself?”
I was. Too much. Way too much. I opened my mouth to deny him, but Rowan cut me off. “Don’t lie to me, Evie. I can smell how much you want me.”
“I’m not the kind of woman who will accept second place.”
Rowan’s wicked chuckle sent heat straight to my core. “I haven’t dated anyone seriously in several years, Evie. I haven’tdated at all in over a year. The well has been dry for a long, long time.”
I froze, words and thoughts fleeing my mind.
“I’ve never been someone comfortable with sleeping around or flaunting my power with women.” He took my ear between his teeth and gently nibbled.
I gasped and arched against him. Rowan’s hand slipped between my thighs, the evidence of my desire causing a low groan of satisfaction to rumble from his throat. The sound made my fingers clench against his arm.
“Rowan, I—I don’t know what to say. Why would you make me believe something like that?”
“The why doesn’t matter. You were with Caelan almost from the moment you met him.”
I shook my head. “No. I wasn’t.”
“Caelan staked a claim and warned us all away.”
“You—you wanted me?” The thought floored me. We’d flirted, but I never thought someone like Rowan?—
“From the moment I saw you, I wanted you. I know things are complicated, but I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t take the opportunity to tell you.” His clever fingers parted me, and the gods help me, I opened my thighs to give him better access.
His satisfied rumble echoed in the enclosed space, and he shifted, gently rolling me onto my back, his fingers still stroking me. The space was too small for him to move much, but he rolled onto his elbows, trapping me between the space of his arms as he hovered above me, those sparkling hazel eyes somber.
“Rowan, this is?—”
His thumb swept over my clitoris and stayed there. My eyes rolled back in my head, my back arching. He dipped his head and took my breast into his mouth, sweeping his tongue over the tight nipple.
This was different. And wonderful. And frightening. And I wondered what in the hell I was doing but I knew I didn’t want him to stop.Ididn’t want to stop. I reached for him, lifting his face to mine. His lips claimed mine in a searing kiss and something, a soft thread of light formed between us, sending a warm, golden glow throughout the cocoon. His eyes opened, a furrow between his brows as he saw the light, before something flickered in his hazel eyes, a deep understanding of something I wasn’t quite grasping. He slid a hand down my body and gripped my calf, sliding my leg open and wide.
“Say yes,” he whispered.
I ran my hands over his bare back, exploring the hard, lean muscle in his shoulders, before my fingers slid through his hair. Rowan closed his eyes, a deep, satisfied rumble sounding in his throat at my touch.
His hands played a symphony over my body as I explored him with my fingers, tracing down the cut of his jaw, the rough stubble of his five o’clock shadow scratching against my skin. Tears filled my eyes as something tugged deep inside me, an emotion that left me breathless with need and want, and the glow brightened inside the cocoon, a warm, burnished gold, the color of ancient coins and a summer sunset.
Rowan buried his face in my neck, teeth nibbling the sweep of my throat. He still held my shin pressed against the back of my thigh as he slid down to claim my breast once more.
“What’s happening?” I whispered.
Rowan did something that drew a deep moan from my throat, those clever fingers sliding against the evidence of my need. “I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life,” he murmured against my skin.
And even though it was reckless and impulsive and borderline insane, and my emotions were a jumbled wreck,something was happening between us, something bigger than me or him, and Caelan became a distant memory.
Not once had I felt this cherished, this loved. And I knew this wasn’t love between us, not right now, or if it was, it was different than any other love I’d ever experienced, but it was something I couldn’t explain.
This felt right. What had being careful gotten me? A bad marriage, an irreparable rift between Caelan and I, years of loneliness. I’d fled my home in fear for my life after being so careful for years to keep my secret. Here I was safe and warm, worshipped and desired. Here there was no judgment. And so, for the first time in many, many years, I abandoned all my doubts and fears, all my reservations about what could go wrong or what the future might hold, and I whispered, “Yes.”
Chapter
Twelve
ROWAN
The wordyesjangled in my skull, sending a splash of cold water over my libido. Evie was underneath me, splayed before me like a cornucopia, gorgeous and glowing under that light. Her eyes were closed, her fingers buried in my hair, and her lips were parted. Her heartbeat was a rapid staccato, her breath jagged as I worshipped her. The deep scent of her desire washed over me, straining my control to where I balanced right on the edge of an unforgivable act.
