Page 35 of Crimson Bond

I rolled over onto my back and covered my face with both hands, blowing out a breath of frustrated desire. “Nowyou’re worried about the Bloodbound vows?”

There wasn’t one part of my body that wanted to shift focus from Abbi to Imogen, but she was forcing the matter.

“You know how much I hate it, but it’s still true,” she said. “You said you’d die before letting her hurt me? I feel the same way about you. I can’t be a part of something that’ll get you killed.”

Making one last attempt, I rolled up onto my shoulder to face her and dragged her close to me again. “For me, it would beworthit. If I could have one night with you, I’d die a happy man.”

Abbi’s expression melted but then she put a small palm against my chest, holding me back from renewing our impassioned activities.

“Don’t say that. I don’t want just one night with you—I want eternity,” she said. “We can’t have that. Not yet. Not without Sadie’s help. We have to keep our heads on straight and focus on getting to her. This mission has to succeed, or it won’t be just us who suffers—it’ll be the whole world.”

At her mention of “our” mission, the last of my ramped-up excitement subsided. “So what are you suggesting? That I take back everything I just said, and we go back to being ‘friends?’”

She ran her gaze over me, taking in my naked torso and arms, my shoulders, my mouth. “I don’t thinkthatis possible. I could never be just friends with you. But I think... for now... it would be best if we avoided situations like... this.”

“Can I still kiss you?”

A tortured look of pained temptation crossed her face. “I don’t think that would be wise.”

Abbi’s lush body was still pressed against mine, her soft breasts cushioning my chest, the sleep t-shirt bunched somewhere around her waist, leaving her smooth legs free to tangle with mine.

Her rapid breaths tickled my hungry lips, and from the pace of her heartbeat, I surmised it was just as hard for her to resist crushing them to mine as it was for me to keep my mouth off of her.

If I hadn’t been bathed in sexual frustration, I might have laughed at the absurdity of it all.

My hand coasted from her back downward, sliding over her curves and pulling her lower body more tightly against mine.

“What about this?” I whispered against her lips, not kissing her but notnot-kissing her either. “Can I do this? Would this be wise?”

Abbi let out a shuddering breath. “Reece...”

Her breathy plea did nothing to discourage me. My excitement kicked into high gear again. Instead of kissing her mouth, which she’d instructed me not to do, I dropped my lips to her neck, nuzzling the warm, intoxicating skin before opening my mouth to taste it.

For a moment, she allowed it, groaning in pleasure and squirming against me in a maddening rhythm.

Then those little hands worked their way between us again, and she pushed herself back. With great difficulty, apparently. “We can’t. I have to get out of this bed. You feel too good. You makemefeel too good.”

“I want to Abbi,” I nearly begged. “I’ve never wanted anything so much in my life. Let me make you feel good.”

With another groan—this one not quite so happy as the last—she kicked her legs and scrambled backward, popping out of the bed on the other side.

“You’re impossible to say no to. But you’re asking me to sign your death sentence. And Ihaveto find the strength to say no to that.”

Walking quickly back to her own bed, she got in and pulled the covers up to her chin.

“So in regard to your question about kissing—and all the other stuff—the answer—for now—is no.”

18

A Plan I Could Get Behind

Abbi

Looking over at Reece’s astonished face, I saw the moment sexual excitement converted to frustration.

“So it’s okay for you to kissShanebut not me,” he said in a bitter voice.

“This has nothing to do with him. This is about you and me.”

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