“If you think I don’t want you, Brinley, you’re horribly mistaken. I’ve never wanted anything more in all my life. But you, Little Wildfire, are a treasure, and I fucking refuse to tarnish that.”
The fingers of her left hand swept over the back of my hand. “That’s funny since every time you touch me, everything feels a little bit better.”
More of the vulnerability.
Trust.
Truth.
Amber gaze churning with every dangerous emotion she shouldn’t feel.
Or maybe it was only my heart that was slanting toward the treacherous.
And I shouldn’t fucking do it. I knew it. But I eased forward and took that tempting mouth.
Only this time I kissed her slow.
Desperate and deep and with the few shards of myself that I had left to give.
A call of my spirit and a plea of my tongue.
Brinley kissed me back.
Every bit as ardently.
I felt cracks splintering the floor below me.
I forced myself to pull back, except my next action was every bit as reckless since I gathered her up, pulled her into my arms, and carried her to my bed.
I propped her on the side of it, then snatched a tee from my dresser, my eyes on her the whole time as I returned to her. Reaching out, I slowly, carefully, peeled her out of her dress then worked my tee over her head.
She swam in it, and there was something brand new stretching across my chest as I stared down at her sitting there wearing my shirt.
Wild curls cascading around her. A softness I’d never seen before etched on her face.
I stripped down to my underwear, then climbed onto the bed, nestled her in at my side so we were looking at each other.
Face-to-face.
Staring at each other through the ghosts that frolicked in the night.
I took her hand and held it up between us as I threaded my fingers through hers and murmured, “Tell me, I need to know.”
THIRTY-THREE
SILAS
“Areyou sure you want to hear my sob story?” She attempted to play it light, but I wasn’t blind. I could see her mouth tweak down on the side.
Could feel the way her entire being shook with the thought of having to conjure what I was pretty sure she’d tried to bury beneath a castle tower.
But I figured it was futile. No stopping or altering the collision we were headed for.
Fuck, she was so pretty. No way to get enough, my eyes flicked all over her face.
Squandering the sight.
Knowing it was fleeting, no chance of something so good meant for me.
