Page 128 of Stone Cold Touch

A laugh bubbled up from me and escaped against his lips. Zayne’s brows drew down, but before he could speak, I stretched up and kissed him again, simply marveling in the fact that I could kiss him—that this was happening.

“Sorry,” I said. “I just never expected this. I never—”

He kissed me softly, a lazy sensual exploration that had to have steamed the windows of the car. “I never thought it was impossible. I’ve always trusted you.”

Tears pricked my eyes for a very different reason this time. “Zayne, I...”

I couldn’t finish the thought, but it was okay.

Time seemed to stop for us and what we were doing was crazy insane, but we were too caught up in each other to care. His lips trailed a fiery path over my cheek as his hand traced where Bambi was curled around my ribs. Her head was using my breast as a pillow again, and I didn’t mind. Not when he followed the elegant curve of her body with his hand and then his mouth, causing mine to arch into his touch.

He lifted his head again, his gaze hooked to my face, and then it traveled down, and my breath caught. Then our bodies were flush, chest against chest and I’d never felt anything like it before. A deep groan rumbled through him and a thousand emotions erupted inside me. Our bodies moved together, against the backseat. A wildness pulsed through me. I pulled him closer, sweeping my lips over his, and he trembled. I wanted to feel more. I slipped my hand down the thick cords in his neck and back, and then lower. He sucked in a sharp breath.

And the way his body rocked against mine and the tension I could feel building in both of us told me where this was heading. It wasn’t impossible, the location and all. In the back of my head, I knew I wouldn’t be the first girl, and maybe not even the first with Warden blood in her veins, to do this. If there was a will—and, holy moly, there wassoa will—there was a way.

There was something in me, though, that threw on the brakes. I didn’t know what it was or if it had a name. Or maybe I did, and my heart and my brain didn’t want to claim ownership of that, but confusion left my skin chilled. I wanted this. Badly. Maybe it was just nerves, but suddenly my hands were shaking. All I did know was that my anxiety had nothing to do with the stupid spell tied to my virginity. If a Lilin really had been created, my virginity was a moot point, and even if there was no Lilin, Lilith’s chains were already broken, so that didn’t matter. No, it was something else.

“Zayne,” I whispered, breathing in his air. “We should...”

His eyes were closed when he answered. “Stop?”

I nodded.

“You’re right.” He rested his forehead against mine, dragging in deep breaths. “We need to stop. I don’t want it to be like this...in the backseat of my car.”

Somehow I flushed. Strange to be embarrassed now, when being half-naked didn’t have that effect on me. I swallowed as he pressed his lips to the bridge of my nose and then lifted up, using his arms to support himself and put space between us.

The way he stared at me made me want to take my foot off the brakes and floor it. “God, Layla, I... There really aren’t any words.”

There weren’t, and not in a bad way. Even though there was a niggle of weirdness in me, threatening to shatter this warmth, speechlessness was a bounty.

Zayne ran his hand over my skin, as if he was seeking to memorize the feel, and then he found the clothing that had ended up on the floor of the car. He helped me get back into them, and it probably took longer than necessary, because he’d stop and kiss my shoulder, then my neck and he had me wanting to undo all of his hard work.

When he pulled me out of the backseat, cool night air washed over my blazing skin. He captured my cheeks, tilting my head back. “I don’t want to hear anymore crap about you being responsible for what’s been happening,” he said, his eyes holding mine. “If this proves anything, it shows you that you are capable of controlling your abilities. You’d know if you were taking souls. You aren’t. So that’s it. No more. Promise me.”

I’d been real bad at keeping promises lately, but I promised him and prayed it was one I could keep.

It was a little after six in the morning when, mostly asleep, I felt my bed dip under sudden weight. I blinked groggy eyes open and smiled a little as the blankets stirred and an arm snaked around my waist.

Warmth pressed against my back. Every morning for the past week, this was how Zayne woke me when he returned from hunting. The past couple of days...well, it had been something straight out of dreams. We spent a lot of time together, either holed up in my bedroom or his, or we’d spend time over at Stacey’s place with her and Sam. Thanksgiving came and went. On Saturday, we’d left and had coffee like we used to, but this time had been different. There’d been kissing. There’d beena lotof kissing. So much so that my lips felt swollen a good part of the day.

My favorite part was the mornings, though. He was always extra touchy then and it was one Hell of a way to wake up. I knew eventually that this would have to stop. Someone would catch him entering and leaving my bedroom and his father would stroke out. And there were bigger reasons why. Reality hadn’t really existed since my suspension. There were no issues with the Lilin, nothing from Roth except harmless texts here and there, and when I was with Zayne, it was easy to believe that I wasn’t responsible for the infection.

Zayne nuzzled my neck and then chuckled as I squirmed when he hit a sensitive spot. “Good morning,” he said, kissing the space below my ear before he lifted his head.

“Morning.” I rolled onto my back and somehow, right into his arms. “You’re back early.”

“Yeah.” He tugged my blanket down to my waist, grinning when he saw Bambi’s head peeking out from under the low collar on my shirt. “It was kind of dead last night.”

His head dipped and his lips brushed over mine in a soft, tantalizing touch. I raised my hand, placing it against his chest. The thin shirt he wore was a hindrance that annoyed me, but his heart pounded strongly against my palm.

The kiss deepened as he shifted closer. One of his legs ended up between mine and the weight of him above me did wonderfully wicked things to my insides. His hand ran down my stomach and then under the hem. When it came into contact with my bare skin, I picked up the intensity in what he was feeling. The need. Desire. Something far stronger drove him. My back arched into his touch and my toes curled.

After what felt like forever, but not long enough, he pulled back with a regretful sigh. Both of us were breathing heavily. Our chests rising against each other. One of his hands was still under my shirt, touching me. Little tremors coursed through me.

He rested his forehead on mine and the edges of his hair teased my cheeks. “I’m going to make you late for school if I keep this up.”

That wasn’t going to be the only thing that happened if he kept moving his thumb back and forth or if he kept kissing me. We hadn’t gone beyond this, not even as far as removing clothes, since the night we’d gone to that house. I could tell by the way his body would shake that he wanted to go further. I was pretty sure I wanted to, but that step was as scary as it was exciting. All of this was something I’d truly never thought was possible with Zayne.

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