Page 34 of Wilde Flame

He jolted awake.

“Lilibeth?” he whispered.

“Yes?” I whispered back, not sure why.

“Are you still cold?”

“No, I’m warm now. I guess I dozed off.”

A soft chuckle came from him, and I smiled. When he laughed, it was a beautiful sound. How I wished he would do it more often.

“Do you feel like telling me what happened?”

Now that my mind wasn’t foggy and my head wasn’t pounding, the realization that his almost naked body was plastered to mine had my lower stomach coiling with want. I needed to move away, or I was going to go insane.

I rolled onto my back, and he removed his arm. I turned my head on the pillow, and our eyes met. He had the most beautiful eyes. Most of the time, they were a beautiful blue, but now they looked like brushed silver with flecks of gold. They were so unique and so stunning that for a moment, I was lost in them.

He blinked, and I snapped out of my trance.

“Lyra and I were on the trail when a clap of thunder came out of nowhere. She took off running into the pasture, and then something else seemed to spook her from our right. It might have been an animal running past us, but I didn’t see anything. She just kind of jumped to the left, then reared up, and I wasn’t ready for it and fell off her back. By the time I got up, she was a speck in the distance, and she didn’t go back toward the trail. I wish she had, because I could have followed her tracks. Instead, I found my own way back, but obviously went in the wrong direction.”

He nodded. “Yeah, I found your tracks heading away from the barn.”

“You probably think I’m a complete idiot.”

“I don’t think that at all,” he said, as he gently brushed a piece of my hair behind my ear. My stomach fluttered, and I tried not to let my breathing quicken.

His eyes moved to my mouth, and I instinctively licked my lips. When his gaze lifted to mine again, I swore his eyes were darker.

“This is twice you’ve come to my rescue, cowboy.” When he didn’t say anything, I added, “Thank you for warming me up.”

Caden smiled, and I swore it lit up the entire room. “That part was no hardship, trust me.”

A soft laugh slipped free…then faded away when he reached over and ran a finger down the side of my face as I held my breath.

“You’re so beautiful, Lilibeth. And I was so fucking terrified that something had happened to you.”

The fight to keep my breathing under control was becoming a losing battle. I longed for him to touch my body. Anywhere…everywhere. I felt like I was on fire. I’d never experienced such desire for a man before.

“You scare me,” he whispered.

My eyes went wide. Caden was letting his carefully placed mask slip. “Why?”

His gazed moved across my face before he said, “You make me feel again.”

“That’s a bad thing?”

He smiled again, softer now, and just a little sadly. “You don’t know how much I want to kiss you right now, Lilibeth. It’s taking every fucking ounce of self-control to keep from touching you.”

I swallowed hard. Could I say what I wanted to say? I might not ever get this chance again, and it was right in this moment that I realized I wanted Caden Wilde more than I wanted my next breath.

Drawing in a deep breath, I slowly let it out, then asked, “What if I want you to touch me?”

The corner of his mouth twitched. “Do you want me to touch you?”

I decided right then and there that it would be nothing but honesty with Caden. He wasn’t the type of guy who liked to play games, and I wasn’t into that either. “More than I’ve ever wanted anything.”

He leaned forward and brushed a soft kiss across my lips.