Page 8 of Where Wild Hearts Dance
I swallow all of them down.
“I had so many plans for us…”
Forus? Shock roots me to the seat.
“Starting with this…”
I don’t have time to take a breath before his lips are on mine.
Cold, bitter, fragile.
I suddenly feel so remorseful and so guilty and sobroken for him, I only pause for a second before I kiss him back.
At first he seems surprised that I’ve responded, but he loosens slightly and his lips part. It feels clumsy and unnatural, but I’ve never kissed anyone before. Maybe it’s supposed to feel this way.
I jump when his tongue probes at my mouth. Nerves dance across my skin at the unfamiliarity of it, then I let him in. I’m not sure I like having someone’s tongue inside my mouth, but somehow I know that barfing or spitting it out isn’t the most encouraging reaction, so I hold my breath and let him do it.
In all honesty, my head is reeling with the thought of him leaving town. I might not have fallen for him, but he’s still my best friend. He’s still the one I go to when I’m sick of being treated like a baby by my aunt and sisters, which is most days. He’s still the one I call when I’m so exhausted by the punishing dance routines I question whether I want to continue with the only thing I’m passionate about. And he’s still the one I can laugh with until my stomach feels like it’s splitting in half. These memories are what keep my lips parted, my mouth open and my throat from gagging as he swipes his tongue across mine.
Despite not being as into the kiss as Federico is, I still feel a strange sensation unfurling between my thighs, like I’m opening up, liquifying. I kind of like it, but it also feels strange. I’m relieved when he pulls away and I look up.
His eyes are no longer red. They’re dark andstrangely un-sated. My heart thumps a little harder as I drift my fingers across my lips.
“Fuck, Tess. That was amazing.” The ice in his voice has thawed some, but his knuckles are like cold shards when they brush against my skin. He must have been sitting in the darkness with the engine cut for an hour at least.
He lifts his hand to my cheek and just as he pushes an escaped strand of hair behind my ear, someone else’s face flashes across my lids.
Bronze eyes, heated gaze.Unaffected.
The contrast between the hard man in black and the soft boy sitting before me makes my breath stutter.
Darkness and light, heat and ice.
And a question so big I can’t comprehend it. Why, did my brain pick this moment to recall that beast of a man?
He’s the reason Federico has to leave, and he’s the reason I now have a terrible feeling in my gut.
“I need to ask you something, Tess.”
My pulse thumps through my ears.
“I was hoping I’d have plucked up the courage to make you my girlfriend before asking this of you, but I don’t have any more time.”
My head feels light.
“But there’s something I’ve always wanted to do and this is my only chance.”
I swallow. “What is it?”
He smiles and for a moment looksuncharacteristically bashful. “I want to make love to you, Tess.”
That’s it. My heart has actually stopped and if I weren’t already sitting, I would be passing out on the passenger seat. It isn’t unheard of. I have freakishly low blood pressure and fainting is a fairly regular occurrence.
“I— um…” I swallow again. “I’m a virgin, Fed.”
He strokes my hair again and smiles. “I know.”
“You, um…” Oh God, I feelreallyfaint. “You want to take my virginity?”
