Page 36 of Make Me Bee-lieve

Without hesitation, Polina tilts her face up to meet mine and kisses me. The tender brush of her lips is so unexpected that I let out a strangled whimper. Pathetic. I’m pathetic, and now she knows it. My heart thunders in my chest as my brain tries to catch up to what’s happening.

Her mouth is warm and inviting, and she tastes vaguely of the nectar she had for breakfast. Sweet, with notes of lavender and clover. Oh, goodness gracious. She tastes like a flower in summer. I run my fingers along the fur of her arms as I deepen the kiss, and then she wraps all four of her arms around my midsection.

What started as our lips timidly seeking one another soon turns into a ravenous hunger. When her tongue flicks inside my mouth, my cock twitches in my pants, demanding my attention. No, cock. Not the time. Definitely not the time for that. We’re kissing right now. That’s all this is, right? But oh, how I wish it were more than just kissing…

Polina pulls away, and I let out a strangled groan of frustration. And, for the first time in history, my brain and my cock, which aches something awful right now, are finally thinking the same thing. I need more of her.

Polina’s eyes glisten as she looks up at me. “That was amazing,” she murmurs. “No, scratch that. I misspoke. You are amazing, Cal.”

I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand. Her lips are swollen and red like a pair of cherries, and all I can think about is kissing her again and again until she’s sick of me.

“I love kissing you,” I mutter, and rub the back of my neck. “It’s one of my favorite things to do. From the moment I laid eyes on you, I’ve wanted to kiss you.”

“Truly?” Her eyebrows rise. “You’ve only known me for a whole … three days, I think? But who’s counting?” She winks, and my heart flutters in my chest.

I smirk. “Yeah, I know. And somehow, these three days have felt like three years and three seconds all at once.”

The wind plays with our hair as we stare into each other’s eyes. Do I kiss her again? Do I wait for her to make the move? Do I … do I ask? I ask, right? What’s the protocol, here? Because I know that just because a woman kisses you once, it doesn’t mean you’re free to do it again whenever you want to, right?

Ugh. Why am I like this? Sweat slides down the back of my neck despite the cool, summery breeze. I’ll ask.

“Hey, Po?—”

Polina opens her mouth to answer me just as another powerful gust of wind tears through the field. Only this time, our poppy is hit at a strange angle. The wind is too strong, and before I know what’s happening, I’m being ripped out of Polina’s arms and falling, falling, falling toward the ground.

Everything happens so fast that my brain hasn’t even been informed of the danger, that I should be terrified right now. Polina screams my name as she reaches for me, but it’s too late. The ground rises to meet me, and—fuck.

I’m a goner.

POLINA

Ifly as fast as my wings can carry me. Just moments ago, I was in Calvin’s arms, and I was the happiest fae in the world. And now the man I’ve come to care for has been cruelly ripped away and is tumbling to his death. No, absolutely not. This is unfair. It’s bad enough that my kingdom has been invaded by yellowjackets thanks to an alleged coup, but now this?

By the sun, it’s too much.

I fold my wings flush against my back and allow myself to nose dive toward the ground. Calvin screams my name and reaches out for me as his glasses fall from his face. His look of pure terror rends my heart in half, and all at once, I can see the future he and I were supposed to have, snatched away by a stupid gust of wind. He and I ruling the hive together. Calvin practicing his swordsmanship with Ser Beatrix in the training grounds. Calvin and I taking mid-afternoon flights to get away from our royal duties. Making love in a bed—an actual bed—with luxurious blankets and pillows, instead of hiding away in dark corners.

And then, by some miracle, I catch up to him. In those seconds between life or death, the sun smiles down on my vision and allows me to grab my love’s hand.

I pull him against my body, locking him in place with my four arms. Then I unfurl my wings and implore them to carry us to safety.

We pull up a mere second before we hit the dirt, but I overcorrect and launch us into one of the nearby poppy stems. We crash against the flower, then topple to the ground.

Ow.

“Po? Po!” Calvin is on top of my body, shaking me. I open my eyes and wince. Even my eyelids hurt. “Are you okay? Oh, Sunshine. Is anything broken?”

“Just my pride, I think,” I mumble.

When I try sitting up, Calvin pushes me back down and shakes his head. “No, give yourself a minute. That was incredible, but I want to check to see if anything is broken or … or out of place, first,” he says.

Ooh. I kind of like this bossy, take-charge Calvin. I’m used to my Aunt Elza trying to order me around, but this is different. This is … this is kind of hot. Too bad I’m in no shape to act upon my sudden lustful feelings. But I’m lucky to be alive right now, with the stunt I just pulled. You win some, you lose some, as Ser Beatrix once told me.

I loosen my grip on Calvin’s slender frame and allow him to slide off me. He’s not hurt. He is still alive and well and not hurt at all. I did it. I actually did it! I’ve never had to fly like that before, and hopefully there won’t be a repeat performance … but I did this.

Not Ser Beatrix. Not Aunt Elza. Me.

“Looks like your antenna is a little … lopsided,” he says as he gingerly runs his fingers across it. The sensitive hairs on my antennae tingle from his touch.

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