Page 29 of Secrets & Curses of Crimson

“Are you so desperate that you are willing to accept my meager feelings?”

Cassius’ eyes dragged over me slowly.

“I’ll take every scrap you throw my way, Thea. I can wait.”

I waited a moment before deciding what to say. I should leave, but that wasn't what came out of my mouth.

“You still have a prize for winning our fight,” I whispered.

He nodded before he leaned down.

“So do you,” he breathed.

Cassius stopped an inch from my mouth, and it was the worst torture he could inflict on me.

“We are enemies; this means nothing,” I said with as much conviction as I could. “Don’t let it get to your head.”

"If you feel the need to call me your enemy, then so be it. As long as I amsomethingtoyou."

My heart went crazy in my chest. Cassius didn't make any movement. My mind was spinning with all the things I wanted him to do to me.

“Tell me what you want.”

“Kiss me,” I demanded. Cassius let out a noise of approval as his lips descended on mine. But he gave me just another fleeting kiss, like he was purposely teasing me. I growled, frustrated.

“I want a real kiss,” I breathed, not caring that I was weak.

“Then kiss me,” he demanded.

I lifted my mouth to take his. This kiss was all-consuming. He released my wrists so that he could grip my jaw tightly. Cassius’ tongue dominated my own. This kiss was more than want and need; it was full of longing and passion. I gripped him to me and rolled my hips up to feel him hard against me.

Cassius pulled away and stared down at me. Something intense took over the look he gave me, and it scared me, so I shoved him off me and stood. This was too much connection and emotion for a man I shouldn’t know. But I knew deep in my heart that I did know him. He felt familiar. He felt safe. He made the feeling of missing something go away.

“I’ll see you on the battlefield, coward.”

I turned and left as he called out to me. My heart pumped rapidly as I made my way back to my own camp, to my tent, where I tossed and turned for hours. Cassius’ black eyes haunted my mind whenever I closed my eyes. Lust cascaded through my veins whenever I saw his face behind my eyes. This was so forbidden—to feel anything towards this man, but it only made my body want more.

“Fuck it,” I sighed as my hands skimmed my skin. My fire magic glowed as I touched myself where I pictured Cassius’ hands. My eyes squeezed tightly as I pictured a different scene than the one in his tent.

No, this time I didn’t leave. His big hands skimmed my naked skin. His eyes turned completely black as he pushed me onto the bed. His mouth claimed me, devouring me. It was as if he couldn’t hold back from what he wanted to do to me. He felt the same thing I did—an unbridled need to just feel him.

“Do you feel that, Captain? Do you see what you do to me?”

I nodded as my eyes clenched tighter. The image of Cassius leaning over me. Thrusting his hips into me so perfectly.

“Please.”

“Beg me, Thea. I want to hear how undoneI make you."

I couldn’t keep it together any longer as my orgasm crashed through me like a violent storm. My face buried deep into my pillow to stop the noises from being heard. Sweat coated my skin as I stared at the roof of my tent. Fuck, I was screwed.

Chapter 10

Thea

It had been a week since Cassius and I kissed in his tent. Each day that passed only made me feel like a traitor because I couldn’t stop thinking about him and touching myself every night. It was sick. I had a real problem.

An overwhelming sense of longing filled me. This had been happening a lot. Random feelings that did not feel like my own constantly plagued me. My eyes glanced around the dark forest we had stopped in tonight. We were still on Crimson lands; I could tell by the tall pine trees and the air that seemed to be the perfect temperature. My lungs sucked in the air that smelled like rain and forest.

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