Page 43 of Stranded

Slowly, Alph raises the wine bottle.

He wraps his lips around the glistening glass and pauses… like he’s tasting me. He sucks it into his mouth—just the tip, but certainly more than he needs to—and he tips his head back to swallow a gulp of wine.

That’s the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.

I stare at Alph as he lowers the bottle again and silently catches my gaze again.

My heart is thudding too fast. My pants feel tight, and it could be my imagination… but I think there’s something rising in his expression.

“Nothing,” Alph whispers, and for a moment I can’t even remember the question. “Nothing’s wrong with this, Ronan.”

I can hardly breathe, just trembling with anticipation. I’m fighting with all I have against my urge to grab Alph and pull him into me, to make him acknowledge what I want from him… because there’s something else we both need even more.

Alph has to take what he wants.

In the blink of an eye, Alph slams the wine bottle into the stones and grabs the back of my head. His fingers tangle into my hair, exactly as gentle and as rough as I dreamed they would be, and he leans back and yanks me into his chest. I fall into him… but he’s right here to catch me.

Our lips meet, and it’s nothing like before.

Alph kisses me hard and fast. His hot mouth glides across mine, claiming it as his territory. My lips part, and he seizes the lower lip between his own, dragging his teeth across it as sparks flash behind my eyes.

My body aches with a need for him—so great that it spills out of me, too beautiful to want to control. I whimper and presshelplessly against him, but I can’t quite find a way to grind against his hip.

I’m too busy melting as he explores my mouth. He pushes his tongue between my lips, and then he gives a soft growl of delight as our tongues slide against each other in a hot, awkward clash of mouths. He pulls back, nips my upper lip, and then goes back to flicking his tongue against my lower lip.

Noises spill out of me unbidden. I’m trembling, writhing against him. My nails dig into his shoulders as I beg for more…

And Alph doesn’t stop.

He just keeps kissing me like I’ve never been kissed—exactly like I need to be kissed to forget about tomorrow, and everything that comes after.

The only thing that matters is tonight.

Chapter

Seventeen

ALPH

Eventually,Ronan and I need to breathe, which doesn’t seem fair.

We’re magnets that have finally found the right way to each other. It’s impossible to pull ourselves apart.

As we gasp for breath, my lips want so badly to linger on his—if only so I can taste the air going into his lungs. Our foreheads are still touching, and the tips of our noses. Nor can I let go of the back of his head. It fits so perfectly against my palm, like it was always meant to be there.

I’m stunned. I can barely believe what I did… but it feels so right.

Isthiswhat it’s like to go after what you want?

It’s intoxicating. It’s terrifying. It’s… perfect.

Ronan moans again—soft, needy—and I’m lost.

Instinct pulls me into him. We’re kissing again, my hand sliding down to the small of his back, and then up again to explore the flat plane of his back. Then, I shove myself away from the boulders to lie flat on my back.

I don’t have to work hard to pull Ronan on top of me. He’s eager, quick to straddle my hips.

As he pushes down against my thighs, I groan.

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