“Someone’s hungry,” he said,smiling.
“Ravenous.” Still mummified in the cover, I shuffled over to the island. “Aren’tyou?”
He ran his palm over the wood that had absorbed the waves of my pleasure. “Oh, I’mstarving.”
Sandwiching my face between two hot irons would probably have scorched my cheeksless.
“Did I just make you blush?” he asked,smirking.
I broke off a piece from the cinnamon roll and lobbed it athim.
“How very mature, Dimples. I thought you were a real woman,now.”
“Shut up,” I muttered, breaking off another piece of the sweet pastry, but this time to eatit.
August came around the island and sat on the stool beside mine. Still laughing, he leaned over and kissed me. It started out as a peck but escalatedquickly.
“Two,” I whispered against hismouth.
“What?” he asked, voice allraspy.
“On a scale of one to ten, I’m down to a two. Kiss me again, and I might get to zerofaster.”
He sucked in a ragged breath before clearing his throat. “Your body needs toheal.”
“My body needsyours.”
“It’s allyours.”
“But you’re leaving in a couplehours.”
His eyes, which encompassed every color of the forest beyond these walls, turned very serious. “Ness, I’m not goinganywhere.”
“You canceled yourtrip?”
“Dad’s gonnago.”
The silliest relief filled me. Even though I’d rather have gnawed off my own leg than let him go into River territory, I said, “If you need to go with him, youcan.”
“The only place I need to be is here withyou.”
And here I’d up and gone on my trip without considering how my absence would makehimfeel. “I don’t deserveyou.”
“What are you talkingabout?”
My eyes heated. Oh my God, was I about to cry?Again?What was wrong with me? Was I getting myperiod?
“Hey, hey, hey.” He kissed mylids.
“I don’t know what’s happening to me,” I whispered. “I’ve never been likethis.”
“Likewhat?”
“Soneedy.”
He stroked the edge of myface.
Had we somehow consolidated the bond, and now I couldn’t physically be away from him? “You think the condom broke?” It wouldexplain—
