“I will not kiss you, Samantha.”
“I did not think you would, which is what I told them.”
“Then why did they send you to me?”
“Because I wanted a kiss,” she admitted. “Sometimes I thought you were going to kiss me but never did.” She frowned up at him. “Why? Do you not want to kiss me?”
“Oh, Samantha, if I could…”
“But you can.”
Yes, he could and now was the perfect opportunity and if she were completely sober and in her right state of mind, the request would be a temptation that he would not be able to resist, but he would not take advantage of her.
“No, I cannot.”
She blew out a sigh. “I knew you did not care for me.”
“I do. I just cannot.”
She stared up into his eyes, studying him as if searching his soul. “I wish I could hear your music, then I would know the truth.”
He was grateful that she could not.
“Why can’t I hear your music, Cassian?”
“I do not know.”
She sighed again, then turned around and as she walked away, she rubbed her hands together then tossed a ball of fire in the air to light her way. He followed from a distance, staying far enough back so that she didn’t know, to make certain that she got safely back to the temple and the others.
Samantha had wanted a kiss and he had been forced to deny her.
How much would he regret that decision in the coming days?
Samantha awakened to a bright room and had to immediately close her eyes and put an arm over her face to lessen the knife of pain behind her eyes because of the bright sunlight. Unfortunately, that did not relieve the pounding and pressure inside her skull. Her mouth was dry as sand and her stomach rolled like the waves of the ocean.
How could one and a half glasses of wine cause her to feel this way?
No, two and a half glasses of wine. She had one after she came back from visiting Cassian.
Her eyes flew open!
She had visited Cassian.
She had asked for a kiss!
Samantha groaned and pulled the blankets up over her head.
Not only had she asked for a kiss but he had refused.
He had turned her away, rejecting her offer while denying that it wasn't because he did not like her.
Why had she done something so foolish? How could she have allowed Maia, Petra and Antonia to convince her to go to him?
Why had she confessed so much to her friends?
Never again would she drink wine.
Ever!
