Page 43 of Of Blood and Banes
“Right away, sir,” Corvin responds.
Heavy footsteps fade into the distance, followed by a door clicking closed. After a few frozen moments of listening to the leapfrog of mine and Cole’s pulses, he finally inhales slowly andlifts his head off mine. A crack of light leaks into the wardrobe as Cole leans back and bumps the door open with his shoulders. He grabs the black book between us before it falls.
The light affords me more detail. Like the way his lips are parted in longing, his eyes soft and focused solely on mine. His warm breath stirs my hair, and a flush of heat creeps down my spine. Sweat glistens at his forehead, the scent of him surrounding me with a deep familiarity in this tight, dark space.
As he inches slowly away from me, his heat fading from where his body pressed against mine, I realize how hopelessly longing I am for him to stay.
Oh…shit. My hands are still fisted tightly into the shirt at his sides. I let go, my fingers rigid from how hard I clung to him. He sucks in a breath, the motion clearing his dazed expression. He clears his throat, tucks the book under his arm, and steps out of the wardrobe. Then, he offers his hand to help me out.
We don’t dare speak. It’s already known how dire it is for us to get back before we’re noticed. We slip out of the room through the window, past the alley where we knocked the guards unconscious, and through the winding dark streets of Midkeep. We’re close. So close my heartbeat starts to slow as I recognize the street my room is on. As we turn a corner, Cole whips toward me, his eyes wild.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers.
“What—”
He shoves the small book to my chest and seizes the back of my thighs, lifting me clear off the ground with an ease as simple as taking a breath, then pushes me back against the stone wall in the alleyway. The air in my lungs rushes out of me in a single breath as my shoulder blades collide with the hard wall. And suddenly.
Instantly.
Cole’s lips are on mine. Stealing every breath from my mouth as he crushes himself against me. Demanding. Pleading. And desperate in all the ways I don’t want to admit I miss. He doesn’t allow a single inch of space between us, leaning into me as if his life depends on it. As if his entire existence hangs between us, and if we separate, it’ll fall to the ground and shatter in a million, incomprehensible pieces.
Footsteps approach the alleyway.
And then I understand.
Instinctively, I wrap my arms around his neck and circle my legs around his waist, tight, and drawing him into me further. Arching my back against the wall, I force as much of my chest into his to hide the journal between us. Cole groans an approval into my mouth. An understanding. But Gods, does that deep, throaty sound send a chill down my spine. One of his hands slips from the back of my leg, and he shoves himself harder between my thighs. I accidentally whimper.
Oh,fuck. This is not the pressure I need. And definitely not the mouth I need. Not when I’m so godsdamned pissed at him. Not when each brush of his lips and beat of his pulse against my chest threatens to wipe my memory of it all clean. Goosebumps erupt on my skin, a gentle tingling falling across my nerves like a blanket of fresh snow with each press of his lips on mine.
Don’t. Fucking don’t, Kat.
But Gods…it’s uncontrollable. A mix of desire and familiarity floods my veins, a heat collecting between my thighs where he is. The rest of the alleyway fades away, my own pounding heart drowning out the sounds of the approaching footsteps.
Stop it.But I can’t.Wecan’t.You shouldn’t be touching him like this, not when he’s supposed to be engaged.
Cole slides a hand up the wall behind my head, and I grab the back of his neck, pulling him into me as I swipe my tongue across the bottom of his lip.Shit, that was a mistake.And he knows it,too. He breaks off our kiss with panting breaths, his eyes peeking at me through heavy lids, partially in warning, partially in gut-wrenching desire.
A group of shadows stretch across the main street, and I rip him back against me. No time for thinking. Our lips meet again in a clash of warmth and unfettered, undeniable want. Claiming the other with each angle, each push and pull. Like it’s a competition. Oh, how I’ve missed this. How I’ve wanted this. How I’ve hungered for what we once were.
“What in the realms—” someone mutters.
Well, at least we’re convincing. Maybe too convincing.I pull off Cole’s mouth, my breath loud and shaky as my hazy vision settles on our finder.
Sethan stands with several guards, all of them rigid with shock. Though, much to Sethan’s credit, he wipes it clean off his expression and returns to his normal state of contempt. “I suppose your familial ties were just a ruse?”
Cole doesn’t even bother to drag his attention off me. His heated gaze lingers on my mouth. Instead of pulling away from me, he leans his forehead into the crook of my neck with a broken sigh that doesn’t need words. He wanted that kiss. Needed it as much as his next breath. And Gods, is it so terrible of me to admit I needed it, too?
“Yes,” I answer Sethan and sigh to relieve the tension gripping my chest and throat. “Just a ruse.”
The long inhale Cole sucks in at my neck prickles my skin. Like he’s steadying himself before diving into a lake. He picks his head up off the crook of my neck and drags his attention to Sethan.
Sethan narrows his gaze. “You do realize you both agreed to a curfew?”
“I…” I clear my throat to get rid of the sandy texture rasping the single vowel. “Yes. Sorry…we just…”
I look at Cole, keeping a close watch in my peripheral vision of the journal still pressed between us. His auburn hair is mussed, lips parted as he fights to regain his own breath.
“Any extracurricular intimate relations does not negate that curfew, Katerina,” Sethan scolds, then turns his attention to the guards at his side. “Escort them back to their rooms.”
