Page 125 of Flame and Sparrow

I stopped directly in front of him, peering up from under my lashes as I said, “You know, I don’t think you’re as in control as you claim.”

He reached out and gathered a fistful of my shirt, dragging me the final few inches to his chest. His fingers remained clenched in the fabric, holding me in place, and his voice was quiet but frayed, teetering on the edge of losing restraint, as he replied.

“I will admit you test that control like no one I’ve ever met.”

I felt a smile curving my lips.

His mouth crashed against it an instant later.

It didn’t end there, this time—not as the soft, hesitant brush of lips we’d shared before. This time it was deeper, darker, as wild as the woods surrounding us. He took my bottom lip between his teeth. Not hard enough to hurt, but hard enough to make me feel like he intended to leave a mark, to claim my mouth and all the rest of me as his own.

The thought of being branded in such a way drew a soft moan through my lips.

He responded by bringing his other hand up and threading it through my hair, pulling me deeper into the kiss until I was breathless and forced to draw back for air.

“This is a bad idea,” I gasped into his mouth.

“For so many reasons,” he agreed, and kissed me again.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, clinging tightly, but the force of his kisses still sent me staggering backward over the uneven ground. He solved this by guiding me toward the closest tree, pinning me against the smooth bark. With my tiptoes balanced on a thick root, I was taller than him, putting my breasts almost level with his mouth. His hand curved around one, massaging it, reveling in the weight of it as he pressed closer to me.

“I thought you were driving me mad when we were spending hours together in the palace,” he growled. “This past week has somehow been worse—even though we’ve hardly spoken.” His thumb stroked the peak of my breast, and even through the layers of my shirt and camisole, my nipple reacted, stiffening and rising to meet his touch. “Every time you saw me and turned the other way, I wanted to chase you down and pin you against the nearest wall, just like this.”

“But you didn’t.”

He gave my hardened peak a teasing pinch. “I knew you’d come to me yourself. Eventually.”

“Such arrogance.”

“I thought you’d be used to it by now.”

“Just waiting for me…” I gave another slight smile. “Like a lazy beast hoping his prey stumbles in to be killed.”

Another pinch of my nipple sent a shock of pleasure deep into my belly.

“Or am I just a patient beast?” he suggested. “A clever one?”

“You’re very good at complimenting yourself.”

“One of my more underrated skills.”

“Do I want to know what your higher-rated ones are?”

“Would you like me to show you?”

My lips parted at his offer, but no reply made it out.

He kissed me again, soft and slow and lingering this time. His eyes locked on mine when he finally drew away, and they stayed locked on them even as he took hold of my hand and drew it up to his mouth, pressing his lips to my knuckles before moving to the flame he’d marked on my wrist. He kissed that mark before lacing our fingers and pulling us closer together, tilting his face toward mine as he said, “There are so many things I could show you, Little Sparrow.”

Need throbbed through me. My body was opening for him even as I tried to keep myself closed off.

I was sodesperatelytrying to close myself off.

Because there would be no going back from this. I felt like I was standing on a shoreline waiting for a tidal wave to crash over me; I could rebuild what it destroyed, but I’d never fully recover from the things I wanted to do with him in this glittering forest.

I cupped his face, fingers trembling against his strong jaw, heart threatening to pound out of my chest.

As I stretched up to meet his lips with mine, a sudden darkness overtook us, blocking out the dim light from above. It came and went so quickly I thought I’d imagined it.

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