Page 90 of A Storm in Every Heart
I wish he hadn’t said that because now I can’t think about anything else.
My entire body tingles with awareness, and suddenly the illusion of our conversation fades, bringing back the reality that we’re standing here, naked, and far too close in the dark water. The tension between us sizzles in the air.
Kastian notices the shift too because his breathing turns shallow. His burning gaze lands on me, and even in the dark I can feel the path of his eyes traveling over my face, down my neck and across my collarbones, then lower.
My breathing turns ragged. Heat blooms on my skin, and I feel my breasts tighten, nipples pebbling. I’m caught between the stubborn desire to cross my arms over my chest and sink low in the water so he can’t see anything, and the desire to…not do that.
He moves nearer, the water separating as he approaches, and I feel the heat emanating from his body. Every nerve in me tingles with anticipation.
I watch, barely daring to blink, as Kastian’s hand reaches out, almost hesitant, brushing against my cheek with a gentleness that surprises me.
My heart thunders in my chest as his fingers trace my jawline slowly, memorizing the curve of my face as if afraid this might be the last time he’ll ever get to. There’s something almost reverent about his movements, a stark contrast to the raw intensity simmering beneath his composed facade.
Then his hands find their way to cup my cheeks fully, anchoring me in place. “Gods, I thought I fucking lost you earlier.”
“You can’t lose what you never had to begin with.”
His thumb brushes over my lips. “That’s true.”
My breath catches, but before I have time to consider the implication of what he just said, his mouth crashes against mine in a searing kiss, all-consuming and demanding.
I kiss him back without thinking, opening my mouth to whimper against his lips.
He swallows the sound, sinking lower in the water until we’re practically at eye level and pulling me tighter into his bare chest.
I feel dizzy, and my knees go weak. I dig my fingernails into his biceps, trying to stay on my feet, until he slips a leg between my thighs to hold me up.
My breasts brush his chest, my pulse pounds in my core, and my skin catches fire. It’s madness and clarity all at once, like running headlong into a storm knowing full well you may never come out the other side unchanged.
“Wait,” I mutter against his lips when I finally find my voice amidst the chaos unraveling inside me. “This is a terrible idea.”
I’m not really talking to him—I’m mostly talking to myself—but of course Kastian answers anyway: “Why? I don’t think you hate me nearly as much as you pretend to.”
I don’t hate him at all, actually.
I’ve tried to. I’ve tried so, so hard not only to hate him, but to make him hate me in return. I’ve been horrible to him at nearly every opportunity, but either I’m not very good at it or Kastian is a glutton for punishment.
Or, maybe, it’s that even if he doesn’t know it, some part of him still remembers me.
I whimper as his fingers trace my ribs and lower, digging into the flesh at my sides. I can feel him hard against me, and it would be so,soeasy to rock my hips forward and join together once more.
My pulse throbs at the very thought of it, and I can feel the heat building between my legs.
Kastian leans forward to kiss me again, but I lean my head back. One of us has to think rationally, and it has to be me. After all, I’m the one cursed to know the truth.
“This has been a terrible day,” I breathe, even as I pull away from him. “You just saved my life, and now we’re stuck in a swamp.”
“So?” he rasps.
“So, this is what I would call ‘a traumatic event.’”
I mean it as a joke. Sort of. Okay, not really at all, but I mean for Kastian to think I’m joking.
Kastian doesn’t laugh. Instead, he stiffens, and I’m sure he knows what I’m getting at.
No one knows exactly how soul-bonds work, but most Fae think they’re triggered by shared emotional events. I expect Kastian will know what I mean and will back off. He clearly wants to fuck me, maybe even thinks he has feelings for me, but I doubt he wants to form an accidental soul-bond. Even the past version of him—the version with all his memories intact—never talked about bonding.
“That’s not going to happen,” he says tonelessly.
