Page 79 of Lost in the Moonlight

“From what you told me, we’d both already be dead.”

It was the wrong thing to say. Her eyes turned into huge wells of sorrow and indecision, a black hole of ugliness that shouldn’t ever surround her eating her up from the inside. I brought her hand to my mouth and kissed the knuckles, trying to reassure her with my touch.

She watched the movement, and her breath caught.

I wanted to wipe away everything that had happened tonight. Yesterday. This week. I wanted to see only smiles on her face. Hear her laughter. Hear the soft breathy moan she’d let out when I’d kissed her in the kitchen. Feel her tremble from passion and pleasure instead of fear.

I swore to myself I was going to make it happen. She’d be free of this nightmare if I had to use every single resource at my disposal…or my father’s disposal. The goddamn military my dad commanded could figure this out. I’d do something to make sure Willow was never again in this situation.

Chapter Twenty-four

Willow

GUILTY AS SIN

Performed by Taylor Swift

When I was this close toLincoln, it was as if his pheromones rewired my brain, because the fear subsided, the self-reproach and terror receded to the far corners, and desire washed over me. A desire not just to have his body tucked up against mine, but a wild need to have this man in my life every day. Every moment.

He’d run down the street, chasing after Poco like some barefoot knight.

I snorted to myself. Falling asleep to Heath Ledger jousting had filled my brain with nonsense. But the truth was, Lincoln was more beautiful than any make-believe hero could ever be.

He was real. Alive.

His vibrancy was addicting.

While my conscience was screaming at me to go, to leave before he became collateral damage, before more darknesscaught him in its grasp, my feet refused to obey. Indecision warred. Calling the Marshals was the smart move. Calling Mom.

But God, I didn’t want to.

Instead, I wanted this. The tingling sensation that covered me from head to toe simply because he was touching me.

It was selfish and risky, but all I wanted to do was exactly what he’d demanded. I wanted to stay. I wanted him. I wanted to stretch out every powerful second of these heart-stopping moments. To feel only the delight of his touch and the fire igniting deep inside. To celebrate the life streaming from us. Because living was all that mattered, wasn’t it? Grasping with both hands at the good when it presented itself?

To steal joy instead of fear.

It should be so simple. But it wasn’t. Everything with Lincoln was a dizzying twist of right and wrong. Everything was confusing.

Except one thing.

The yearning I felt for him wasn’t confusing at all. It was clear cut, and it insisted on relief, required me to answer its call. It was louder than my conscience. Louder than my fears. So, instead of stepping away, instead of putting more space and an entire street between us, I stepped closer, eliminating any gap.

Our thighs touched, arms and chests colliding, and that flickering flame burst through my body. This. This was what I really wanted. Him. Me. The tantalizing touch.

Our gazes locked, his cobalt eyes darkening as he watched me rise on my toes and thread my hands behind his neck, tangling my fingers in those dark locks. It brought our mouths closer together, our breaths mingling so it was impossible to tell whose was whose. I wanted our bodies to do the same.

The blood pounding through my veins seemed to thicken. Goosebumps traveled over every inch of me, and still, we continued to stare. One heartbeat, two, a dozen went by until the desire in the room was so large it was almost its own entity.

I wasn’t sure which of us made the final move, but suddenly, no air separated us, and our mouths were joined. He’d been furious when he’d kissed me in the doorway, insisting he had every right to make demands. But none of that fury remained. It had been replaced by a wild longing that edged toward madness as soft silk glided against silk.

He tasted of honey and tea.

He tasted of belonging and acceptance and courage.

I wanted it to be mine. All mine.

He deepened the kiss, parting my mouth with an expert flick of his tongue. The swift movement, the control and command, sent another wild throb through me, warmth settling deep in my stomach and seeping into my core. I pressed into him more, my soft curves colliding with the hard length of him.

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