“To what end?”
“To protect the people I care about.”
I considered myself to be a level-headed man. But against all laws of reason, my brain jumped to a vile conclusion.
My inflection could have sundered granite. “Raccoon.”
Aspen squinted in exasperation. “Rhun,” she reproached. “His name is Rhun. And no, this isn’t about him or any of my lovers.”
Lovers? As in, plural?
A corrosive reaction sizzled through my veins. I’d maintained a lethally calm tone on the subject of Aspen’s bed partners. But now, I hardly knew what the unhinged fuck to do with myself.
Yet something more critical than envy launched to the surface. The warnings about failing to protect her, paired with this series of events, could be an extreme coincidence. Or it could be the start of something ruinous.
My equilibrium tilted. “You left with no reinforcements.”
Under the hood, Aspen’s countenance twisted into a glare, vines and leaves knitting across her skin. “For the last time, I can look out for myself.”
“This isn’t about your aptitude. I have every faith in that, but even soldiers need backup. Aspen, you have nothing to prove. You never did!”
“And who was I supposed to call on?”
“Me!” I hissed. “You could have asked me!”
She stabbed a finger into my pec. “You’re not a lawbreaker. What’s more, you already have an important job to do.”
“Headstrong, intrepid woman! That’s not…” I ground my canines, my voice hitting a decibel that threatened to blow the roof off the cottage from where I stood. “Why do you deny me this? Why have you always denied me a chance to keep you safe?”
“Why are you so determined?” Aspen shouted back. “Who are you really trying to save?”
The second it left her mouth, she froze. Perhaps it was the furious grief that must have ripped a hole into my features. Perhaps it was the gruff sound that chopped from my throat. Whatever the case, Aspen stalled her attack. The glowing pumpkins illuminated the contours of her mouth, where an apology balanced precariously.
My chest hitched. Every complicated emotion in existence surged to the forefront. Blessings I once had but lost, temptations I never knew I wanted, and desires I could not attain. None of which I had a right to want.
My shadow touched hers across the grass. Until that was not enough.
I stalked in her direction, backing Aspen fully into the tree trunk. There, I inhaled the illicit fragrance of melted iron and myrrh, hot and earthy.
Eventide light traced the crimped layers of hair tumbling from the hood and brushing her hips. My fingers itched to snatch a lock, wrap it around my fist, and pull hard.
I tipped my head down, our respirations blasting together. “Go on,” I murmured, “Don’t stop now. Speak plainly.”
Even to my ears, that could have been mistaken for an invitation or a threat. I could not say which. But one factbecame clear. Of all moments between us, this might be the most forthright one.
Aspen’s eyes sank to my lips, then she dragged her attention back to my face. “Who am I substituting for?”
I detested the inquiry, the ache it produced, and anger that followed. Of its own volition, my knuckles scraped across a leaf imprinting her cheekbone. At the contact, my eyelids hooded. Beyond reckoning, she felt like the earth itself, rooting me to the ground, awakening a primitive urge.
“There is no one like you,” I rasped.
Her breathing escalated, the outtakes remarkable to behold. “Then prove it.”
Permission. Her unbridled endorsement to take this disorder further. A challenge to demonstrate how far she’d provoked me since the moment I returned.
Aspen’s breasts pushed across my torso, the ruched outline of her nipples pitting through the material. Fuck, the disks toughened. My vision blackened, and my cock lifted, its width standing high, the head swelling.
We couldn’t do this. We shouldn’t do this.
