Page 2 of Awakened Gifts

“At least until we go savage,” I almost whisper, praying for that day.

Chapter 2

ARIA

The soft lips of my fiancé travel up my arm, paying special attention to the inside bend of my elbow. I grin as his lips move closer to my neck, and I feel his smile when it starts to mimic mine.

“Morning,” Jase says softly, letting those delicious lips touch my cheek.

“Morning,” I say in a just-woken-up rasp. I turn to meet his lips, but he backs up, grinning even bigger.

“If you do that, we’ll be inside all day.”

I giggle without dignity as I snuggle in closer, wrapping my bare leg around his naked waist.

The only thing I’m wearing is a sheet. It’d be really easy to seduce him into—

“Stop thinking like that,” he lightly scolds, his playful eyes not matching his forced seriousness. “We’ve spent two weeks cooped up in a room or a vehicle. I’ve got to do some work at some point.”

My grin doesn’t waver. It only grows as scandalous images cross through my mind, giving him a show that has him groaning in frustration seconds before his lips crush mine. I pull him to me, not feeling the least bit guilty about using my body—or my dirty mind—against him, and he flips me to be on my back.

When his lips leave mine, I start to protest, but he speaks before I can.

“You’ve gotten too good at using my mind reading gift against me,” he grumbles, chastising me with his insincere glare.

“Apparently I need to work harder if you’re still talking instead of kissing me.”

He snickers softly before bending to offer me a chaste kiss that leaves me feeling very dissatisfied. “The suspense is killing me. Look at your hand.”

I start to ask questions, when he raises my left hand up, and the violet crystal in front of me silences whatever I was going to say. There, on my ring finger, rests the most perfect stone attached to a titanium ring. Inside has the etching of the gifted sparrow, and it reminds me so much of the ring my father once gave my mother.

Tears gather in my eyes, and his smile returns as the tension I didn’t notice earlier leaves him.

“You like it,” he observes with relief.

“I love it,” I almost whisper, my voice breaking twice on those three words. “When did you get this?”

I look up from the dazzling stone, and he bends to press another soft kiss to my lips.

“I had it designed. Sorry it took two weeks, but it’s hard to get jewelry picked up during the middle of peace negotiations. We keep having to change compounds as a means of security—in case this is a trick.”

I touch his face affectionately, brushing the tips of my fingers against his cheekbones as his pale blue eyes shift and his true, mismatched blues shine. His emotions travel through me, raw and unguarded, letting me feel the love only meant for me, and the warm tingles of excitement start to surge through my veins.

“I love you,” he says softly, smiling when he sees how completely lost in him I am.

“I love you, and I think we should celebrate my new ring,” I say before shoving him to his back, and coming to rest on top of him.

“What’s one more day gonna hurt?” he says, amused.

I smile against his lips, and he jerks the sheet out from between us. When his jean-clad lower half scrapes against me, I push my hands between us to remove the hindering fabric. But the damn buzzer from hell rings, and I almost growl at the front door.

Jase laughs as though this is funny, and he leans up to kiss the tip of my nose.

“We’ll resume this in a minute. It could be important.”

“You’re reading their mind. Is it important?” I ask, refusing to move off of him until I decide if it is worth it.

“There are too many overactive minds out there to read without a visual focus. Something is apparently important, though.”

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