I can’t wrest my gaze off him. His eyes are hazy with the same desire that’s swirling through my body, and then…his mouth slowly begins moving toward mine.
Chapter 37
Every fiber of my being wants our lips to meet. It would be so easy to let it happen. But I don’t have a clear head right now, and so I force myself to place a hand on his chest, stilling him.
“You have a girl,” I remind him.
For a second, Gray’s expression flickers with something I can’t decipher. Maybe it’s regret. Or confusion. But what itisn’t? Guilt. Not even a trace of it as he lets out a hoarse chuckle.
“Yeah,” he says. “I’ve got a girl.”
“I know I’m an impulsive person, but there are some lines I won’t cross.”
Even as I say that, the magnetic pull between us remains. Our eyes lock again.
And then, without warning, the ground beneath us gives a violent shake. A rumble vibrates through the forest, and I jolt as a tremor runs up my legs.
“What the fuck,” I blurt out, instinctively clutching his arm.
With a loud, eerie growl, the ground shakes again. Tiny lingering tremors ripple beneath us before finally stopping.
“Was that an earthquake?” I exclaim.
Gray chuckles. “Yep.”
Holy shit.
Talk about a sign from the universe. I’d been two seconds from letting an aphrodisiac trick me into kissing a taken man, and the literalearthstopped me.
Jasper, who’s standing nearby, calls out in our direction. “Don’t worry, children. Just a mini quake.”
“Mini?” I say to Gray. “It felt like the ground was going to crack open and swallow us up.”
“Nah, he’s right. That wasn’t bad. There’s a leftover fault running underneath Ward E. This area gets tremors all the time.”
Either way, I’m grateful for the interruption. Saved by the tremors from making a stupid, reckless decision. Luckily, the sexual tension has dissipated, though remnants of desire continue to flutter low in my belly. I’m blaming the seraphis for that.
“I’m grabbing another drink,” Gray says, hopping to his feet. “Preferably one that isn’t going to give me a hard-on.”
I watch him go, still thinking about the kiss that had been dangling between us. How close I’d been to acting on it.
A shadow darkens my peripheral vision. I look over to see Xavier approaching and get up to greet him.
“I saw that,” he accuses.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say lightly, and then we change the subject and pretend I didn’t almost kiss a man who isn’t Cross.
I spend the night in the main cabin, which I discover belongs to Kitty. She puts me up in the spare room, where I sleep like a log until long past sunrise. Gray, who slept on the living room sofa, is still out cold when I pad on socked feet into the kitchen. Kitty told me last night that hers is the only private kitchen in the Hollow. Everyone else uses the communal kitchen in the dining hall, where they take turns cooking for the entire camp.
I find her at the narrow wooden island in the center of the room, brewing a cup of coffee.
“Would you like one?” she offers.
I nod gratefully.
“Your lieutenant had a lot of fun last night.”
I can’t help but grin. I think last night Xavier discovered what he wants to be when he grows up: a Faithful. He’d disappeared from the party with two of the women he and Jasper had been charming, Jasper wandering off with a third. Apparently, this camp is basically a big playground for anyone who’s willing to play without rules and restraints. I can see how Jasper fits right in. He doesn’t like rules, he likes chaos. And Xavier, despite the structured discipline of the Command, is built for action.
