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Heat flooded my face. "That's—no—I'm just cold."

"You're burning."

He was right. I was burning. The rain had long dried off my skin, and a fine sweat had replaced it. The silk gown clung to me in the worst places. The throbbing at the back of my neck had sharpened into a sweet yet menacing ache that begged for something I didn't have a name for.

Yoichi's gaze dropped to my throat.

Then lower. He was silent for a long time as dark hunger slipped across his face. "You're much closer than I thought."

"Closer to what?"

Silent, he climbed over me and hovered.

My breath caught.

Next, he leaned down.

Mmmm.

His lips brushed my forehead first.

Then my temple.

Then the corner of my eye.

Slow.

So slow.

Each touch landed like a drop of warm oil and slid down through me, gathering heat as it went.

His mouth found my cheek.

My jaw.

And then he hovered over my lips, but he didn’t kiss me, and I almost begged him to.

His breath tasted like cold mountain air and this fruity sweetness, like the plums he'd said he stole from Oiwa's kitchen three hundred years ago.

I shivered. "Yoichi. . ."

"Do you want me to stop, little witch?"

Oh, fuck. There’s no avoiding this now.

I swallowed.

What do I want?

Chapter nine

Heated Desire

Gabby

🎧 Chapter 9 Soundtrack:

Did I want him to stop?