Standing here, holding him, being held in the darkness of the night and of my past, a stream of silver light slides through the tiny fissures inside me, into my heart, into my soul, sparkling its way into the deep wells of pain and loneliness and isolation that have filled my life for so very long. He breaks the kiss, breathing hard and fast, and leans his forehead against mine.
“I don’t know how this is true, and I don’t know how or if you can believe me. But I feel like I’ve waited all of my life for you.”
I search his eyes and see nothing but truth. But beneath truth, hesitation.
He takes a step back. “Soli, I—”
“No.” I have finally hadenough. “None of that again. Never again. Not after what we shared in that inn. Not after everything we’ve been through. We don’t know how this journey will end, but we damn sure know—Idamn sure know—what I feel for you.”
He starts to speak, but I raise my hand to stop him. “I’ve waited all my life for you, too. Don’t make me wait one more minute.”
His gaze is hotter than the fire beside us, but he still hesitates, clenching his hands to fists at his sides. “If you knew what I’ve done. What I’ve promised …”
“I. Don’t. Care.” Frustration and desire go to war inside me, but anger crests past them.
I yank my shirt over my head, taking my undershirt with it, and stand bare to the waist before him. Right there, in front of the fire and anyone who might return to camp at any minute.
“I want you, Kaelen, and I think you want me, too. Either do something about it, now, or I will never offer again.”
I’m trembling with the amount of courage it took for me to do this. To subject myself to utter humiliation if he refuses. To the sound of my heart breaking if he walks away.
He stares at me, his mouth falling open and his eyes purple flame. Then he takes the single step to reach me and sweeps me up into his arms, my shirt still clutched in my shaking hand.
“You humble me, Solitude Grace,” he murmurs into my hair, andthen he strides toward the trees, holding me so tightly I can feel his heart beating against my cheek. “And I will never—could never—turn down such an offer from you.”
He walks far enough into the forest that the campfire is only a faint glow in the distance, and then he lowers me to sit on a fallen tree so that I’m face to face with him. I drop my clothes and put my arms around his neck and press my face to his shoulder, suddenly shy to be undressed before him.
His laugh is low and deep and wicked. “Oh, no. You don’t get to hide from me now, beautiful one. And I have to decide on a way to punish you.”
My head snaps up. “You what? Punish me for what? If you think—”
“Ithinkthat if you ever again bare that beautiful body where anybody but me can see it, I’ll find a way to lock you in my bedchamber, naked, for a very long time.”
“When this is all over, I’m not sure I’d hate that,” I say primly, trying not to smile.
His amusement fades as he looks at me, his gaze painting heat down my body. “Soli. My Solitude. I have to have you right now. Please say yes. Ever since those bounty hunters … the thought of what they might have done to you if we hadn’t defeated them, I have been losing my damn mind.”
“Kaelen.”
“Forget words. I need to fuck you until I believe you’re alive and unharmed. I need to feel my cock so deep inside you Iknowyou’re still here. Still mine.”
The force of his desire shimmers between us, catching me off guard. My skin lights up with such exquisitely intense desire, it takes me to the edge of pain. “Kaelen—”
“We’re done talking,” he growls, his voice low and broken. “Tell me yes, or tell me to leave. I’ll walk away if you order me to. But tell me now.”
He takes my face in his hands and stares into my eyes with so much naked wanting I’m surprised I don’t go up in flames—which immediately strikes me as a bad thought to have, wearing the amulet.Butoh oh ohthe way he’s looking at me.
“Tell me yes,” he demands. “Please. I need to be inside you. Or I need to find the strength to walk away.”
I pull his face to mine and kiss him so deeply that I don’t know where he ends and I begin. I want to climb inside his clothes, inside his body, inside his mind.
I want to climb inside his heart.
So I tell himyes.
In the space of two rapid heartbeats, he’s stripping my clothes and boots off my body, frantically kissing every bared inch of skin.
I reach for his shirt ties, but he tears off his clothes until he stands nude before me, the evidence of his desire erect between us. “Now. I need you now. Now, now, now.”
