“Yes. A few bumps and scrapes is all.Whatwere you thinking?”
Others cared about me—Krait, Sybilla, Fen. But there was something new about the way he put my pain first when it washewho’d almost died.
I held onto his tunic when he tried to lift himself from me.
His gaze burned into mine. “I was thinking I’d do anything to keep you safe.”
I drank in the relieved sigh he let out and didn’t break our locked stare. His lips hung open, and when his expression turned longing, I couldn’t take it anymore.
Reaching up, I clasped the back of his neck. How would it feel to draw his lips to mine?
I’d promised him I wouldn’t pursue him again.
Our labored breaths tangled together—dancing winds entwining. He dropped onto his forearms and laid his weight onto me, dipping down to brush his lips against mine, nudging them open.
A question.
He’d broken my promise for me.
Heat sank to my core, and I answered and dug my fingers into his hair and greedily angled his head to allow me to take his mouth.Mine.
Even if for just a moment, I could pretend he was made for no one else.
His deep groan of approval only heightened my arousal as our tongues met and we got our first taste of one another.
His knee between my legs hooked under one of my thighs and pushed it up. With my legs parted, he settled between them. Both of us moved against each other, seeking friction that, through heavy breeches, left only more wanting.
His heart beat heavily to the rhythm of mine, and I wrapped my free leg around him, pulling him against me harder.
I’d experienced many kisses. None had ever quite compared to the way he savoured me yet devoured me at the same time.
When we parted for air and he looked down at me, I couldn’t help but stifle a laugh of disbelief. The sobering reality that we were on the ground in a sandy cave didn’t even ruin the moment. If high tide was not fast approaching, I’d stay there all night.
“I kiss you, and you laugh? You know how to wound a man’s pride,” he huffed out as his forehead met mine.
I clung to him when he tried to rise and shook my head. “It’s a good laugh. You surprised me.”
His gaze darkened, and an irresistible smirk played across his features. “I have a feeling that’s hard to do.”
“It is. We’ve kissed so many times in my dreams, but those didn’t compare,” I blurted out. Heat rose to my cheeks.
That should have stayed aninsidethought. He’d truly taken me off guard.
I finally untangled our legs to let him up. He offered me a hand to help me to my feet, and the heat of his palm made me miss the weight of him—the taste of him.
“Dreams, huh? What else were we doing in your dreams?” This shift in his demeanor, this flirtatious playfulness, made my thighs even slicker with desire.
“You were wearing far less,” I teased.
He still held my hand and squeezed my knuckles before he said, “So were you in mine.”
My heart skipped.
We’d save regrets for the light of morning—it seemed to be our new tradition.
Chapter 47
Emmerick
