He slides a palm down the front of my jeans, cupping my pelvis.
My God, he’s gripping me hard, his fingers tightening at my opening.
A gasp rips from me. Even through my jeans, the pleasure rocks me. I want more. I want all of it. He holds me harder, and I grind myself against him like a rabid raccoon needing a fix. I’m on the verge of climaxing by simply being touched outside my jeans.
While Pane keeps the pressure on my pelvis and I’m grinding against him like a horny squirrel, his other hand moves up my waist, and this time, I’m going to let him feel me up. I’m ready. My breasts ache. My nipples long to be touched by someone other than myself.
That’s when it hits me. For the past four years, I’ve been living a half-life, shoving away emotion, but now my heart is thumping in my chest and my rib cage is shrink-wrapped around it.
Maybe that’s not right. Maybe my rib cage isn’t shrinking. Perhaps my heart’s expanding like a balloon, swelling inside my chest cavity, pressing against its bony cage, forcing me to feel things I haven’t experienced in ... forever.
Things like my heart.
Wait. That can’t be right.
But Iamfeeling it. My heart is thumping and beating, waking up in a way that makes me realize it’s been asleep. It never occurred to me that it’s been shut down ever since Luke slashed it to pieces.
But it has been, and now it’s wide open for business, whether I’m ready or not.
And I’m not ready.
Just as Pane slides his hand up the outer rim of my breast, the rose wall rips apart, exposing us and bringing with it a shock of night air.
I leap away like I’ve been caught making out in a car parked by the lake. Pane doesn’t move.
Stella’s standing where she always does. She glances at the roses as if they’re a minor inconvenience and tosses her head back.
Stella. Her power.
That’s what caused all this. That’s why I was so worked up. That’s why Pane kissed me. It’s because of Stella’s power.
Whew.Thank goodness I know that. Otherwise, this could have been embarrassing. You know, me thinking that this is real and all.
The sound of our panting fills the stable. I look over at Pane. He swallows hard. “Sunbeam ...”
He’s going to say what I was thinking—about how this is all Stella’s fault. I’ll save him the trouble. “We should get going.”
His eyes flare briefly before his face settles into his normal broody expression. “Yeah. Before Sally comes back.”
We leave in silence. When we return to the house and he’s about to walk off to his shamper, I stop him with, “You know, there’s a guest bedroom downstairs. It’s yours if you want it.”
Moonlight splashes across Pane’s face, highlighting his tight brows. He cocks his head as if he’s about to say something, then seems to change his mind. “I’ll get my things.”
He gets his clothes and I show him the bedroom, giving him a quick good night. Too quick for me to throw myself at him, too quick for my eyes to linger on his lips (even though they try to). Then I scamper off to my bedroom and fall into a very lonely and restless sleep.
