Chapter 11
Kira’s breathstuttered in her chest, so sure someone had drained out all of the air in the cabin.Lie beside him?
Týr sprawled on the couch like some big jungle cat, his black sweats riding low on his lean hips. He was all brutal strength beneath smooth, lightly tan skin—not an ounce of fat anywhere. A living, breathing reality of what a fallen deity truly looked like. He was as dangerous in his lifestyle as he was tempting. And he wanted her.
He watched her through half-mast eyelids. “Scared?”
“Hardly.” The denial rushed out. What he asked would change everything between them, if she took this leap.
“Good.” He patted the handspan of available leather beside him. “Lie down.”
“You’re practically taking up the entire couch,” she croaked.
“And you turn everything into an argument.” He waited, his stare daring.
Unable to deny the longing within her, Kira stopped fighting her feelings and lay down on her side near him. Cautiously, she put her hand over his warm stomach for purchase so she wouldn’t fall off and land on her butt.
“That won’t work.” He tugged her to sprawl half over him and put his arm around her waist, keeping her secure against him. “This way, you won’t hurt yourself again.”
“What? Sleep on you?”
“Why not?” he drawled. “I rarely do. I’ll make sure you don’t turn over.”
Too aware of his bare chest against her cheek, and his incredible masculine heat enfolding her, she remained silent. It felt so good to do this—to finally hold him.
“Just one little thing, Kira,” he murmured, gliding his warm palm down her side then up again as if unable to stop touching her, his fingers lightly brushing the sides of her breasts. God, she bit back a moan as her treacherous body melted, craving his touch—craving skin contact. “I’ll never let you go. Ever.”
It took a moment for his soft words to register. Her gaze snapped to his, her breath jamming in her throat. “What?”
He sighed, his distracting hand slowing its torment. “What exactly didn’t I make clear?”
“You can’t just say something like that and expect me to simply agree and say yes—”
“Why not?”
At his dead-serious tone, Kira blinked, so sure her entire world had just shifted off its axis. She’d lain down beside him because she wanted this time with him, for however long they were at the cabin, knowing it could never be more. “Why now? Why, after a year?”
His mouth tightened briefly. “Because I’m a selfish bastard. I want you. Always did.”
Her heart pounding painfully against her ribs, Kira pushed up, needing space, distance from him to think. But she barely scraped an inch of freedom with his arm keeping her pinned against him. “Týr, I need to breathe.”
In a quick move, he slipped one hand beneath her knee and dragged it across his stomach, pulling her to straddle his rock-hard belly, her nightshirt bunching around her thighs. Her jaw hit her chest. Amusement lit his eyes.
How was this any better?She bit off a moan, all too aware of the intimacy of their position. Slide a little lower, and she’d feel every inch of that rigid length of him her body ached for. So tempting to just give in to her desires, but this was heartbreak waiting to happen.
She braced her palms on his warm stomach marred with a few nicks and scars. “Týr we—Ican’t. I just can’t.”
“Yes,wecan.” He settled his hands on her hips. “We’ve danced around each other long enough. It ends now. Evenyoucannot deny this attraction between us.”
“You’re deliberately being obtuse!” Kira clung desperately to reason. He had to know that what he pledged was impossible. “I’m not your destined. And you know it.”
“That’s why you dislike me?”
She met his shadowed eyes, understood that it wasn’t his fault when a horrible mystical law bound him. “Of course, not.”
A tic started up on his jaw, and his eyes darkened like a brewing storm. “I don’t give a fuck about the destined mate crap. No one dictates my life!I. Want. You. You want me. End of story.”
“You’re impossible.” She smacked his chest in frustration, even though hope made her long to throw caution to the wind. “You’re not thinking this through—”
