Fire surged the second our lips met.
Her skin flashed ice cold beneath my grip.
She melted into me, pressing her hands against my chest for balance.
I plunged my tongue past her lips and she met me, lick for lick.
We lost ourselves as we kissed hard and drunk and messy.
The longer we gave in to the exquisite urge, the more the power in me strengthened.
The terrace became far too loud as growing things buzzed in my ears. The inferno around my heart threatened to get loose.
I deepened the kiss, sliding my fingers through her hair.
Pulling her off her lounger, I braced my thighs for her to straddle me. Wrapping one arm around her, I pulled her down and groaned as she rubbed against the part of me that was desperate for her.
The world narrowed to her mouth. Her heartbeat. Her snow settling over the crackling flames in my blood.
Whisper grumbled as if trying to get my attention, but I couldn’t tear myself away.
The air grew thicker.
Warmer.
Ineededher.
I needed to—
“XIAO LU!”
Tearing myself away, I blinked into the blinding sun.
Rook leapt from my lap, wobbling a little from alcohol or lust or both.
Whisper growled as a man flung up his hands and staggered toward us. His eyes went straight to the neat row of potted bonsai trees, complete with ribbons snapping in the mountain breeze.
The bonsai that were now on fire.
“My babies!” Uncle Wen raced to the scene of my crime in navy trousers and a dark green shirt, his silvering hair slicked back and horror etching his weathered face. His mouth dropped open as his ornamental trees smouldered like sacrificial offerings.
Rook glanced at me, wincing.
Her lips were slightly swollen and with the state she’d left me in, I most definitely wasn’t fit for company. Doing my best to adjust myself, I arched my chin at the tiny trees.
“Do something,” I whispered under my breath.
“What? With him standing there?” she hissed back.
She...had a point.
Groaning, I pinched the bridge of my nose before striding forward to console Uncle Wen and figure out how to help his beloved bonsai.
“What in the heavens happened?” he wailed as I drew to a stop beside him. “My poor plants.” Spinning around, he searched the terrace, lingering over the many earthen jars and empty plates we’d devoured. Giving up trying to understand how his plants spontaneously combusted, he shuffled as fast as his arthritic knees would let him to the hose by the pond.
While he fiddled with the tap, I studied the blazing trees.
Fuck, if this was what my power could do by accident...imagine what I could do when it wasaimed.
