“You set an entire valley on fire just because you came.”
“And you froze everything into an ecological extinction event.”
“This isn’t a competition.” I giggled.
God, this pear wine—or was it plum—wasdangerouslyeasy to drink.
The sun kept rising, weaving tipsiness with tiredness until I wanted to howl at the fading stars and give in to the shivery, delicious relief that we were alive. Lucien was okay. Whisper was fine. And I no longer suffered any pain.
Silence fell for a while before he yawned. “You have a point though. Maybe we should ban ourselves from sex outdoors, just to be safe.”
He said it so dryly, so matter-of-factly, I burst out laughing.
He raised an eyebrow, his gaze warm and tender. “Now what? What did I say?”
I struggled to talk around my snickers. “You think a bed will survive better than a forest?”
His jaw tightened as I stupidly directed our already highly suggestive conversation back to the subject of sex. “My bed is pure redwood.”
“So were the trees.”
He smirked, male smugness filling him. “Are you saying we’ll do more than just crack the headboard?”
“I’m saying I’m not responsible if the curtains catch fire.” I held up three fingers in an oath. “I hereby absolve myself of any broken furniture.”
“What about if we destroy the entire estate?” he asked softly, darkly.
I groaned at the fading stars. “God, can you imagine.”
“Want to see what damage we can cause right now?”
“And summon a blizzard during foreplay? How will you explain to Auntie Mei and Uncle Wen when we decimate a pavilion or two?”
His eyes burned like twin coals. “Keep going, Rook, and I’ll do my utmost to make you come so hard you flatten an entire mountain.”
I choked on lust so hot, so sharp, I almost detonated there and then. “Hypothetically speaking...if you kissed me right now, would you burn that lounger to a crisp?”
He went instantly, lethally still. “Want to try it and find out?”
“I think we’ve caused enough disasters for one evening, don’t you?”
“It’s morning.”
“Even more reason to keep our hands and...mouths...to ourselves.”
“You,” he replied far too calmly, “are dangerous.”
“Me?” I squeaked.
With a groan, he readjusted himself, tugging at the black trousers he’d found in his wardrobe. “You’re the most dangerous person I’ve ever met, and after this...after the river, I hate to tell you, Rook, but you don’t get a choice anymore.”
“Choice? What choice?”
“About your future.” His eyes caught mine. “I’myour choice. Your only one. Your only choice is me because I’m never letting you go.”
I melted even as frost crackled over my arms. “Keep talking like that and I’ll return the favour I owe you.”
His eyes ignited. “Well, we’re no longer twenty thousand feet in the sky, so if you want to suck me off...I have no objections.”
