“How easy and natural it has always been between us? Or the excitement?”
“Or both?” he said. Maybe it was the wine making his tongue loose or the excitement of having so much of Ava on show to him, but the words slipped from him. She smiled, the sweetest smile he had ever seen from her. It made him raise his blade between them again.
“What’s that fer this time?” She nodded toward it.
“Tae stop me from closing the distance between us.”
“Oh, what are ye doing tae me?” She turned away and discarded the sword. “Enough, Kai.”
“Enough what?”
“Enough fun. Enough laughter and smiles, enough… this.” She waved a hand between them and tried to reset some of her dress, covering her legs and her breasts. “I like it all, more than I should.”
“I dinnae understand the problem with liking it.” Kai longed for her to turn back to face him again, to look up at him with those hazel eyes that seemed to follow him everywhere, even into his heated dreams. She seemed most determined not to look at him now. She hung her head, adjusting her clothes as much as possible
“Ava…”
“What?” she said in clear irritation. The laughter was gone now. It had vanished from the room swiftly, as if a strong wind had buffeted it away. He moved toward her, driving his sword down so that the tip rested in the notched wooden floor, pockmarked from where so many blades had done the same before. “Dinnae come close tae me.”
“Why nae? Last night, in the croft –”
“Dinnae speak of it!” She looked up sharply, their eyes meeting as he halted in front of her. “I… I cannae bear it, Kai.”
“Ah, I see.” Kai felt as if she had ripped open his gut. It didn’t matter to her, did it? Not in the way it mattered to him. Maybe this was momentary excitement to her, but it was not deep. It was not the longing and sheer desperation that he had for her, wishing to feel her body against his own, to hear her moan and breathe heavily in his ear as he made her reach dizzying spells of pleasure. No, that was all in his own mind. “Aye, I understand.” He dropped his eyes to the floor and backed up from her.
“Kai?”
“Ye’ve made yerself clear.” He turned on his heel, ready to leave the room. He adjusted his shirt as he reached for the door, only she reached the door first. Out of nowhere, she appeared before him. Her sword was gone as she stood there, the gown barely covering her at all. The glimpse of hip, her thighs on show, even in the inner curves of her breasts he could just see were making him as hard as a rock in his trews. “Step aside, Ava. If ye dinnae want me tae say or dae anymore, then ye will let me pass now.”
“But…” She closed her eyes. For one awful second, she looked in pain. “Kai, I never want ye tae go.” Her voice was breathy. It was like a stolen confession, something special, something she had not meant to say from the way she screwed her eyes up tight.
Kai moved toward her. Without thinking, he laid a hand to the back of her neck. It was possessive, but still soft. He didn’t pull her into him but used it to angle her head to the side. He placed his lips to her neck, not quite kissing her, but inhaling the scent of her, breathing heavily in her ear as he traced a path from her ear to her collarbone with the barest brush of his lips.
“Kai,” she whispered, her hands closing around the loose and torn folds of his shirt.
“Ye want this,” he murmured in realization, feeling how tight she held onto him. “Ye want me too.”
“Ye ken we cannae dae this. Me path is so different now. Laird Grant–” Her mention of that man’s name was like a bolt through the air. Kai lifted his head, no longer touching her. Slowly, her fingers dropped from his shirt.
Kai’s heart ached as he reached for the door handle behind her, ready to leave.
“Dinnae go like this,” she pleaded.
“There’s nothing more tae say then, is there?” He had to avoid looking her in the eye, or he might just break down and pleadwith her to give him just one kiss, to make all the dreams he’d had for years come true, so he could feel her lips against his. “Goodnight, Ava.”
“Nay…” Yet she couldn’t stop him. Kai slipped out of the room. As he walked back to his chamber, there was one thing on his mind that he could not let go of.
Whatever had taken place in that room, whatever it was Ava had felt for him, it wasn’t just momentary attraction. Ava felt something deeper for him after all.
—
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