“Youneedme?” I whispered, stunned.
Jace turned to me again, and his eyes had shifted. The feline pupils were impossibly dilated—a testament to how desperately he was clinging to what little control he had left. “But it doesn’t matter,” he insisted. “I can’t have you.” Yet he reached for me without seeming to realize what his hands were doing. His fevered gaze trailed down from my face, and his pulse raced so fast,Igot dizzy from the head rush. “I can’t even…”
He blinked, and I saw his willpower snap like a cord under too much pressure.
Jace took two steps forward, then his arms were around me. I gasped when he lifted me until my bare legs wrapped around his waist, and suddenly we were eye to eye. He kissed me again, and the angle was different.
Better.
Perfect.
I forgot about whatever pointless objection he’d been making. It couldn’t possibly matter, because nothing that felt this good could ever be wrong. I knew what wrong felt like. I’d had nightmares about wrong for years, and there wasn’t a single thing about Jace that didn’t feelexactly right.
His kisses grew deeper, bolder, and every stroke of his tongue made me want more. I slid my fingers into his hair and his hands cradled my thighs, a supportive touch that promised everything I could ever want, yet demanded nothing.
Jace worked his way down my neck, tasting, teasing. Electrifying me in ways and places I’d never even been aware of before. When his tongue flitted into the hollow between my collarbones, I groaned, and Jace tensed against me as if I’d flipped that regret switch again. He set me down, and the floor was a cold shock beneath my feet.
Conflict raged behind his eyes—a storm of rivaling needs. “I’m sorry. I’msosorry, but I can’t let this happen.” Every muscle in his body was taut, and I found that intoxicating. Jace gave orders and kicked asses on a daily basis, and the thought thatI’dput that tension in him made me feel powerful. Wanted.Needed.
“I have to…” Obligation battled desire in every word he said. In every movement he made. “You need to go home. To your parents.”
“You still want to get rid of me?” The heat that had built up again inside me dissipated in a sudden wash of cold shock.
“I don’twantto. I’m trying to do the right thing.” He swept one hand over his hair, then clutched the doorframe as if the solid reality of it were a lifeline. “If you stay here, we’ll… I’ll…”
“No!” I reached for him, and he backed away, fleeing from my touch, even as his gaze seemed caught on my fingertips. “You said you wouldn’t leave my side!”
“Abby, this is dangerous.” His gaze found mine and I couldn’t have looked away if I’d tried. “I see you, and I want to touch you. I touch you, and I want to taste you, and then….” He shrugged miserably. “Propriety aside, this isn’t fair to Brian, and itdamnsure isn’t fair to either of us.”
Oh.Brian.
I held up my left hand with a small smile.
Jace frowned at my bare finger. “Taking off the ring doesn’t make the problem disappear. And the fact that I’m thinking of Brian as a problem should tell you what a dangerous frame of mind I’m in. This will end badly. I’ve been here before, and I can’tdothis again.”
I stood on my toes to kiss him, and he groaned and pulled me closer. “I’m not going to marry Brian,” I whispered.
Jace stood up straight. “What?”
“I just told him. Like, fifteen minutes ago.”
He glanced at the open bathroom door, and I realized he’d heard me on the phone but clearly hadn’t caught much of the conversation. “You’re serious?”
“Soserious.”
Relief spread across his features, and for a second, he looked so happy that my chest ached. Then some new concern lined his forehead. “Does he know aboutthis?” He ran his hands up my arms, and delicious chills followed his touch.
“He has suspicions, but you’re not the reason I called off the wedding, and that’s exactly what I told him. With or without you, I don’t want to marry Brian.”
“That won’t stop Ed Taylor from blaming me,” Jace said, and though that fact should have made him hate me, he only held me tighter. “My stepfather’s allies have just been waiting for an excuse to take my territory, and if the council thinks I’ve abused my authority to seduceanothertabby—someone else’sfiancéethis time—”
“Hey.” I put both hands on his face to make him look at me, and the short stubble on his chin was a foreign yet fascinating sensation. “You’renotthe reason we broke up, and if I have to shout that from the roof of the lodge, I will. I ended it with Brian because I finally realized that all the time I spend dodging his phone calls and avoiding his touch would make for areallymiserable marriage for both of us. So, you’re in the clear.” If anyone was in trouble, it was me.I’dkissed Jace first.
“And for the record...” My face burned with the admission perched on the end of my tongue. “You’re the only person in theworldthat I’ve wanted to be touched by in five years.” The heat flashing in his eyes gave me enough courage to say the rest of it. “I don’t know what that means beyond the fact that you make me feel beautiful, and powerful, and wanted. But four years spent avoiding the man I was engaged to has taught me that this”—I put one hand on his chest, and his heartbeat spiked beneath my fingers—“doesn’t happen every day. So, if you want to try this in spite of the political complications, I’m in.”
“You’re in?” The upward tilt of his lips said he was teasing me, but his intense gaze said he knew how much of a risk I was taking.
“Allin. All of me.”
