Page 85 of Incubus
"I mean...what if we don't findanything. What if there's nothing to find, or no dark fae we catch knows this sidhe's name? Even those dryads didn't know the name."
"If this doesn't work, we'll just think of something else," Sasha said confidently. "Maybe what you should be thinking about is what you're going to do after we find this sidhe. Once your bounty is taken care of, I mean."
Nathan reached for the steering wheel with his left hand, if only to have something to squeeze. "Figure out the rest of it, I guess. How the Veil is thinning. How...to keep Jim,Jim."
"Okay. I can help with that, too," Sasha said. "Unless you were planning on getting rid of me once my part in this is over." He looked at Nathan a little sideways, hiding a subtle smirk.
"Like you'd be that easy to get rid of," Nathan said with a smile.
They sat a while longer in silence when, low and quiet at first, Sasha began to hum. He didn't seem aware of what he was doing, but Nathan recognized the lullaby, the same lullaby he had caught Sasha singing in the Gatehouse, being hummed lowly in Sasha's throat.
May the road always rise to meet you...
Nathan closed his eyes, letting the melody wash over him in Sasha's soft voice, and imagining he could hear the words instead of just a gentle hum. He wished Sasha had more opportunities to sing, and cursed whatever had caused Sasha's guitar to get smashed. He definitely needed a replacement.
Sasha stopped humming as abruptly as he had started, as if suddenly realizing what he had been doing. Nathan opened his eyes to look at Sasha.
"Sorry," Sasha whispered.
"What for?"
Surrounded by the sudden quiet again, with Jim's breathing coming lightly from the backseat and the dark of the nightaround them with not even a solitary passerby this late, Nathan found himself transfixed by Sasha's bright blue eyes. They shone unnaturally but were still so inviting, the way they smiled when he smiled, but held on to that shadow of sadness that was always in Sasha, like a plague of self-doubt.
With Jim still safely asleep, Nathan leaned forward across the separation of their seats and kissed Sasha soundly. He felt the warmth of Sasha's mouth inviting him in, felt Sasha's hands on his arm and chest almost immediately, seeking whatever holds he could find.
Quickly out of breath, Nathan pulled back, feeling hot and stuffy in the car, but still content stealing one brief moment with Sasha. Sasha's eyes were shimmering brighter, so close to Nathan that they were the only thing he could see.
Nathan hadn't meant to allow anything more than that simple kiss, but Sasha’s fingers skimmed across his throat and ghosted up into his hair before grasping his neck and gently drawing Nathan closer again. Their lips pressed together, Nathan's tongue flicking over Sasha's and then deepening the kiss further. The console between them was starting to become a real burden.
There was something hurried about this kiss, almost like withdrawal despite the intimate moments they had stolen throughout the week. Sasha had called Nathan an addiction, and Nathan was starting to understand what that meant.
Within the kiss, Nathan grasped the edges of Sasha's jacket for an anchor. Sasha was stroking his thigh, moving farther and farther upward and getting dangerously close to where Nathan was pretty sure he was out of his comfort zone. Even so, Nathan felt an answering shudder move through him and he slipped back to a place where he just couldn’t care.
Both of Sasha’s hands slid up underneath Nathan’s T-shirt, stroking and massaging the broad expanse of his back. Nathan pulled away again to stare back at Sasha and, just when hethought those eyes couldn’t be any more brilliantly blue, theyglowed.
Sasha was so beautiful, the way only someone with fae blood could be beautiful. Nathan’s breath stuttered as he looked at the small smile playing across Sasha’s face. He briefly thought that this should be harder, but wanting Sasha came so easily now.
"Am I under some sort of spell?" Nathan said, half-serious and, for a moment, almost terrified that he had succumbed to a trick. "Are you bewitching me?"
Sasha's smile fell. "Nathan, I couldn't if I wanted to. Not anymore than you allow me."
Bringing one hand out from under Nathan’s T-shirt, Sasha reached for the short hairs at the back of Nathan's neck and pulled him back into their kiss. But even the apparent safety of the car couldn’t keep the voices in Nathan’s head at bay indefinitely. He was suddenly aware of how close he was to being out of control. He was aware of the passage of time. Of Jim asleep in the backseat.
“Nathan…” Sasha breathed against his lips.
“Yeah?”
“You know the thing about moving slow, Nathan?”
Nathan blinked heavily back at Sasha. “Hmm?”
Sasha grinned. “The thing about moving slow is…you still have to move forward.”
"Sasha..."
"Trust me."
Looking at him with that beautiful smile, Sasha’s hand began to ghost its way down Nathan's ribs, making him tense at the slight tickle. But the hand didn’t stop. Strong fingers smoothed down across Nathan’s hips, his thigh, and up again, grazing more and more sensitive areas until—
