“Willingly.”
She retreated one final time, slow and hesitant, until the trees stood only a few paces behind her. His grip on her waist tightened, every nerve in him instantly alive. Something fierce and fragile rose in his chest.
“My Kate.”
He said it softly, reverently, a declaration and a prayer all at once. The words felt less like possession and more like surrender. He searched her luminous blue eyes, hoping to find an emotion that mirrored his own, a sign that she saw him as clearly as he saw her.
This time, she did not take a step back.
“Always.”
Elation coursed through him, heady and strong.
“I rather like the sound of that last one.” His gaze dropped to her lips, his hand firm on her waist as he leaned closer.
“Do you?” Her whisper was soft and ragged. “So do I.”
She placed her hands on his forearms, gripping his coat sleeve, and tilted her chin up. For a single heartbeat, he hesitated. One breath closer and there would be no retreat back to the guarded reserve he had so carefully crafted between them.
He did not care. He was done keeping his distance. He knew what he wanted. What he needed.
Every lingering restraint, every rational objection to loving her, vanished like mist before the rising sun. He knew who she was—the life she had chosen—and he wanted her. Completely and utterly.
He leaned forward, his forehead nearly touching hers. “Kate. What have you done to me?”
Her only answer was a slight parting of her lips, and that was all the invitation he needed. He lowered his mouth slowly, deliberately, until finally, blessedly, his lips touched hers, soft and warm despite the chill air. He held himself in check, offering only a light kiss, a mere whisper of the devotion he felt. As he lifted his head, Kate drew her arms around his neck and pulled him back to her.
Exhilaration swept through him. This time, their lips moved together, eager and willing in a rhythm that settled deep into his soul. Her lips tasted like sunshine and citrus. He could have basked in her softness forever, anchored in the truth of her embrace while the world around them dissolved into the mist.
Without breaking their connection, James pressed her back against the nearest tree. Cupping her face in his hands, he deepened the kiss, moving his lips achingly, tenderly across hers, attempting to convey the surrendered state of his heart without words.
Her fingers played with the hair at the nape of his neck, and a guttural sound escaped his throat as heat flooded through him. He braced a hand on the rough tree to steady himself, the other gripping her waist tightly, drawing them ever closer though it would never be enough.
But he wanted more than physical closeness. He wanted to erase every emotional barrier between them. He wanted to tell her the truth. Using every bit of resolve he could summon, he slowly broke the kiss. Their uneven breaths tangled in the morning mist, the only sound in the frozen silence of the grove.
James took in the rich warmth of her hair and the delicate curves of her face, committing them to memory. He wanted nothing in the world as much as he wanted to kiss her again.
Except for one thing. He wanted no more secrets standing between them.
“Kate?”
“Hmm,” she said, her lids fluttering open. Her contented sigh almost broke his determination.
“There is one other name you could call me.”
A curious smile touched her lips as she continued to stroke his neck. “And what name is that?”
She tilted her face toward his, trusting and full of a warmth that drew him in. Unable to resist her pull any longer, he pressed his lips to hers once more, reveling in finally surrendering to the feelings that he had been denying for so long. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly to him. For one moment, the world narrowed to the space between their breaths.
As James lifted his head, a prickle of awareness slid down his spine. The morning mist suddenly seemed a little colder.
“It appears I won’t be hearing any more complaints about your recent assignment,” came an amused and entirely unwelcome voice from the edge of the grove.
James’s heart sank. He pulled back from Kate.
Blast.
Westmarch.
