Page 41 of Pawns of Salistya

‘I mean –’ He caught himself, clearly choosing to say something different ‘The continent needs individual rulers who stand by their people. That’s the only way as a whole we can run smoothly,’ he said, scratching his head and looking away.

With his eyes focussed on the rock formation, I was able to study him a bit closer. I drank in his bared skin which had a natural tan. Every muscle in his body was lean, veins pulsing on his forearms, and he clearly worked out to maintain this kind of physique. My eyes glanced at the snail trail running between his belly button and down to the top of his briefs. At a leisurely pace, I took in his chest before slowly lifting my gaze to admire his face once more, only to find him staring back at me in open admiration.

‘You can feel it. Can’t you?’ he whispered, as if afraid someone would hear him.

I swallowed deeply, licking my lips, which drew his attention before his eyes fluttered shut. Based on his reaction, I was happy I didn’t answer his question. Everything becomes too real when you start acknowledging the attraction for what it is. And clearly he isn’t holding back.

‘It?’ Did that come out of me? I shouldn’t be goading him. My body was not working in conjunction with my brain. The longer we were alone together, the more the palpable chemistry between us heightened.

Rolling his eyes, he said incredulously, ‘You’re going to make me say it? Fine. The attraction between us. The pull, the need to be close to each other, wanting to –’

Before I knew what I was doing, I closed the small distance between us, placing my lips on his. He responded immediately, his hand gently settling on the back of my head. The kiss was soft and sweet. He barely moved, perhaps afraid that if he took it further, I would pull away.

The warmth under my ear lobe grew increasingly hotter the longer we kissed, and I jolted away from him with a gasp. I couldn’t look at him, knowing the desire he would be showing would be a dangerous trap I wanted to fall into. Instead, we sat in silence for a minute or two, staring at the rocks. The crash of water from the falls broke the silence. It wasn’t awkward. In fact it was far from it. It felt comfortable, too comfortable. And comfort was a deadly place to be.

After a while, he sighed. ‘Should we go back?’

‘Was that inappropriate?’ I blurted, looking at him for the first time since the kiss.

‘Inappropriate?’

The damn asshole was making me explain myself like I’d done with him before. ‘The kiss,’ I stated, in a deadpan voice.

He shrugged. The guy shrugged nonchalantly like it was nothing. What a way to knock a girl’s ego down a few notches. ‘It was barely a kiss.’

Barely a kiss? Was he challenging me? ‘Should we do it again, then?’ I countered, taking the bait.

‘It would be rude not to,’ he said casually, before grabbing my head and bringing our mouths back together. He didn’t hold back this time and took control of the kiss. His tongue swept over my lips, demanding an entrance that I willingly gave. Our tongues explored one another. My hands came up to caress the sides of his neck, paying extra attention to the area under his earlobe. Every time I ran my finger over his Royal Mark, his moans deepened, turned guttural.

I used this knowledge to my advantage, keeping my fingers there to continuously elicit noises from him as I nibbled on his bottom lip, pulling it into my mouth. I pulled away from him to catch my breath before diving back in to claim his lips once more. I gasped when his hand ran over the warm spot under my own ear, a ricochet of desire spiralling down my body and straight to my core. My nails ran down his arms, the intensity of my grip increasing with his encouraging groans.

I panted as his lips left mine to travel down my neck, planting kisses along the way that caused shivers to run up and down my spine. Oh Goddess. I don’t know if I would ever get enough of him.

I grabbed his head to bring it back towards my mouth. Our lips had barely touched again before we heard, ‘Where are you two? I didn’t get the hide and seek memo or else I would’ve tried a bit harder.’ Orlandia’s teasing voice echoed around the cave as I pulled away from Xylan.

Our hands remained where they were, mine on his neck, his behind my head. We panted, trying to catch our breath while we stared at each other in shocked wonder. This wasn’t good. This shouldn’t have happened.

‘Fuck,’ he muttered, taking his hands away from me to rearrange his hard bulge.

I giggled despite the situation, exceptionally satisfied that I had caused this reaction.

Deciding there was no point in giving him a lecture about the fact that no one could know about this, I slid off the rock slowly wading towards the entrance to the cave. As I was about to dive under it, I heard him mutter, ‘Damn physical mages don’t play fair.’

Physical mage?

My body went rigid. How did he know?

In a moment of impulsive stupidity, I threw caution to the wind and launched a torrent of water straight into his face, refusing to turn around despite the many curses leaving his mouth.

‘That should help with the party in your pants,’ I threw snidely over my shoulder, before diving under the water and away from the temptation I left behind.

A temptation, I was quickly learning, that was proving impossible to resist.

Chapter 17

Asober mood surrounded our group as we made our way back to the palace. I was thankful for Orlandia, who had noticed the change in atmosphere and proceeded to ramble about the differences between the Arlom and Marlyst Kingdoms.

I knew I should have been listening. After all, gaining information on Marlyst was what Eliasson wanted. But I couldn’t seem to pay attention to her. Not when it was solely focused on what happened in that cave.

---