Page 152 of Mud

“Answer me, sweetness—have you found a body?” he continued because I couldn’t make a sound yet.

“No, but I will soon,” I muttered.

He squinted his eyes. “Where?”

“Move back.” I put my hands on his chest and pushed.

He didn’t budge. “No.”

“Taland—”

“What’s the plan? Tell me,” he whispered instead, throwing the core of the apple back against the wall without even looking, then grabbing my face in his hands.

Like I said, the wall was right behind me, so I had no place to go. He pressed his whole body against me, and I stopped breathing.

He touched me without my permission. He was deep into my personal space. His whole body was pressed to mine, and it was just as inappropriate as the thoughts in my head.

Because of all this, I should have been freaking out, but I wasn’t. I was standing very, very still as he raised my head little by little.

“Talk—or you won’t be able to in a minute,” he said, his voice husky, thick, so fucking sexy I was gonna die.

But how could I talk when I had no clue if I had any voice to make words with? Closing my eyes, I pulled my lips inside my mouth because it did look like he wanted to kiss me, and I wanted him to and didn’t at the same time.

Iris, what is happening here?I wondered as I hung onto the way his breath blew on my face.

“Sweetness?”

My eyes opened. I let go of my lips to ask,what?

He kissed me the same second.

My entire body became numb, like I was hit with that Whitefire spell all over again. His hands were on my face, mine on his wrists, and I was holding onto him with all my being, wishing he didn’t let go.

He didn’t.

Taland stayed there for a long time, our lips touching, our breaths held, our bodies one.

Then he moved back just a tiny bit, drew in air deeply and whispered, “Sayaahfor me, baby.”

“Ta—”

His tongue was in my mouth before I could get his name out.

The first time he kissed me, I thought I died, or that the world had stopped spinning, or that everything had sort of fallen into a state of chaos because no way could life simplycontinueafter that feeling.

Unfortunately for me, the effect was the same for me now. I was no longer in Vuvu’s inn or in Night City or in the States—or even the damn planet.

I existed only on Taland’s lips.

His tongue inside my mouth was better than any apple. Even though a little voice in my head was whispering to me that I should stop this, that I should at least try to push him away again, I didn’t.

I found myself sucking on his tongue instead. Whimpering. Wrapping my arms around his neck.

Fuck, I’m in trouble.

But for now, I was going to kiss Taland Tivoux like I’d been dreaming of doing every single night for far too long, everything else be damned. Because I was going to die in this game, wasn’t I? Even if I was still trying to fight, I couldn’t fool myself—I knew I was going to die.

Might as well allow myself this little thing before I went.

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