“So sure of yourself.”
“So sure ofus.”
I stare into his pale grey gaze. My heart pounds against my chest, like when I was pushed from the train and fell towards the frozen lake. Ketill caught me then. Will he catch me again?
“You said twenty-eight minutes.”
He smiles. “A bit longer now.”
“Not long enough.”
“Says who?”
Ketill is gentle as he kisses my wrist where his fangs were buried, then kisses up my arm, his nose brushing across the sensitive skin atmy inner elbow. I shiver as he makes his way up to my shoulder. Gasping when the hint of teeth as he passes my neck. My palms rest on his chest, both of us moaning at my sudden contact. His breath burns as it works up to my jaw.
“Says Fate,” he tells me, the slightest touch of his lips against my ear.
I huff a laugh that sounds like a groan. “Does that little line always work?”
Pressed into my cheek, I feel his lips form into a smile. “You tell me, I’ve only ever used it on you.”
Slowly, I run the pads of my fingers along his neck. Down his Adam’s apple and across his naked chest.
I swallow.
“So shifters, vampires and soulmates are real,” I ask, mesmerised by the spattering of freckles over his left shoulder but not on his right. Always uneven—one dimple, one freckled shoulder.
“You can’t forget dragon eggs.”
My gaze finds his again.
“Will you turn me into a vampire, Ketill?” I ask quietly. The question is too important not to. I’m scared of his answer, yet more scared of my reply. “Like your father’s Maker did to you?”
Ketill doesn’t pull me closer, but he does wrap his arms around me.
“One day. Not now. But one day. You’ll be in a bed, and I’ll make it so beautiful for you, treasure. Thomas. No one will be chasing us, and we’ll have all the time in the world…”
I inhale his every breath, and he inhales mine.
“And I’ll ask you a question, Thomas,” his voice is low under the popping fire.
“What better story…” Our eyes connect, “than one that lasts forever.”
I move forward, the blankets falling from my shoulders, and press my mouth to his. Ketill lets out a surprised gasp before his hands cradle my cheeks, his long fingers stroking the curve of my jaw.
His own blanket slides down his body, pooling around his waist.
“Ketill,” I say between kisses. “Ketill.”
I touch around his neck, the back of his head, wishing I could make out the tattoos there, but unwilling to leave his mouth moving with mine.
I feel for as much of his body as I can reach; his muscular shoulder with a scattering of freckles. His strong chest and hard nipple surrounded by a dusting of hair.
“Thomas,” he breathes my name, his palms stroking down my face, across the muscles in my arms, my back. “You…” Ketill runs his tongue across my bottom lip, his hands holding onto the flesh at my back as if he plans never to let go. “You are wonderful.”
“You are…” I pull myself into his lap, completely naked and so very aware of Ketill’s nudity. His hardness pressing into me and mine into him. “Impulsive.”
“One of my better qualities.”
