“I like it.”
But she was uncomfortable in the borrowed clothes. She rested her chin on her knees as she peered into the flickering fire across from the bed. What she wouldn’t give for a hot shower and a strong cup of black coffee.
It wasn’t just the hot shower and the coffee she missed. She missed a lot of things. Warmer temperatures, for one thing. Sunny beaches. Frothy waves. A good long sleep. She was glad to be reunited with her sisters, even if it was under strange circumstances. But even still, she was tired of it all. The burden of carrying the weight of the strange little keystone was almost too much.
When all this was over, she decided she’d find a way back home. Even if Evie and Chloe refused to come back with her.
“What is it?” He moved to the edge of the bed, sitting next to her. Concern flickered through his eyes. “Ye have dark circles under yer eyes.”
“When I had the second vision,” she began, her voice low as she tried to choose her words. The sudden impulse to tell Jamie everything was urgent.
“Aye?”
“The third goddess, Athea…she told me something that I haven’t shared with anyone.”
“And it vexes ye?” he asked.
“Yes.” The word came out as a whisper of ice. “She said I had the power within me to shift the timeline, to prevent or bring about certain destinies. That if I didn’t, then all of us will die. She said I could change that outcome.”
Jamie was silent as he reached for her, placing his hand on top of her bandaged one. His touch was gentle, reassuring.
“Ye dinnae tell yer sisters this?” he asked.
“No.”
“What do ye think it means?”
“I think it means that I’m the one who has to fix the timeline. If I don’t, then Rory MacDonald will use his magical great axe to open a portal to the Realm of Chaos and unleash hell. I can’t allow that to happen.”
“If you fix the timeline…” he asked, slowly as he considered her words. “Then what happens to this one?”
It was a question she, herself, pondered. If she fixed this timeline, as Athea suggested she should, then what would happen to her, Evie, and Chloe? Would they go back to their futures? Would everything be as it was before they traveled back into the past?
“I don’t know, Jamie, but I’m afraid.”
He scooted onto the bed to sit next to her, wrapping his strong arms around her and holding her. It was comforting.
“Yer safe here, lass. Dinnae fash yerself,” he said.
Hearing him say this exact phrase sent a shiver of familiarity through her. She recalled he said that to her ina dream—one she’d had before she arrived here in the past. She wanted to believe she was safe here, but something told her there was inherent danger in what they—she—had to do.
But that was for another time. Now, she wanted to relish their time together. They were still alone, and though she was exhausted from the last few days, there was something irresistible about him. As though a slender, delicate thread of desire had formed between the two of them. Her gaze lingered down to his lips. He must have sensed what she felt because he wasted no time pulling her closer and kissing her.
His kiss was slow, thoughtful, with nothing hurried about it. It was the kind of kiss she dreamed of, the kind that took her breath away and made her weak in his arms. Gently, he eased her down on the bed. It sent currents of heat through her. He made her feel young again.
His hands explored the soft curves of her body. He took his time as he moved on top of her, as though their bodies were made for each other. She fit nicely into the hard contours of him, like a perfect match. Like two pieces of a whole finally coming together after being separated all their lives.
Now, skin to skin, they were one.
She told herself she didn’t believe in destiny or soulmates or fate. But every moment she spent cradled in Jamie’s arms made her rethink that. Maybe, just maybe, shecouldbelieve in destiny and soulmates and fate.
And maybe, just maybe, she could start to believe in forever.
As he moved against her, the world spun, careening on its axis. She drowned in a floodtide of emotion as they peaked together, yielding to that searing need that had built between them in only a matter of minutes.
Now that it was all over, he kissed her forehead, gathered her close and held her. His heart drummed a rapid beat under her ear as she rested her head on his chest. A contented sigh escaped her.
“I shouldna have done that,” he said.
