Page 33 of Hidden By the Convicts
“Such as?” she asked, leaning her chin on his arm now. That smile of hers widened with each breath. God, she was a sight to behold. He reached up and rubbed a smudge of dirt from her cheek. She frowned, then rubbed at it until it disappeared.
“Are you nervous, T?”
“No. Why?”
“You pulled away. One minute you were leaning on my arm, and then it’s like you didn’t want to touch me.”
As brazen as ever, she leaned her chin against his arm again. “Unintentional. I was just a bit self-conscious that I might have dirt on me. From the pit.”
“The pit?”
“I had to hide for several hours last night when the guards brought you back. Thompson and Elkin. They asked about the alarm, like you predicted. You should have seen Harlis. Well, I didn’t see him, but I heard him. Whatever he did, he led them to believe he was hiding something in the kitchen. They found the stash of Flight, and they left the warning system in place. They’re expecting a weekly supply from him.”
Blonde curls fell forward into her face, temping him to touch them, to touch her.
“Harlis will keep the strength low, put placebos in for the most part. No one will get addicted. The last thing we need are guards addicted to Flight.”
Her smile disappeared. “Are you okay, Bowen? You weren’t exactly yourself last night. You shut down like you didn’t recognize anyone.”
Something about seeing her face, seeing her so close to him, made it easy to smile. “I dreamt I had a gorgeous woman in my bed, all to myself, her hands moving over me.”
Teagen reached up and touched his face, then leaned forward and kissed him. The second he felt her smooth, silky lips press against his, he opened his mouth, inviting her.
Her tongue dipped in, and his entire world changed in that moment. The loneliness, the sense of never being able to love again, disappeared. From the moment he’d seen her, even as dirty and scared as she was, she was like the refreshing breeze that struck a man when he emerged from the mines after being trapped for way too long.
Bowen cupped her face in his hands as he broke the kiss. “I promised I wouldn’t touch you,” he said, breathless.
“What if I want to be touched?” Her delicate brows lifted, then waggled in a suggestive and very playful manner.
“Are you sure, Teagen? I mean really sure? What if I. . . I mean, if something reminds you of. . .”
“Then you’ll stop and hold me until I can deal with it.”
“You shouldn’t have to deal with it.”
“No, I shouldn’t. But it’s my reality, Bowen. Like being thrown into a hole and left there for days is your reality.”
“They don’t compare.”
“I don’t want the guards to control my life any more than they already do. I don’t want to be afraid, especially afraid to love, Bowen. Does that make sense?”
He kissed her again, cautiously, fearing she might not be ready.
“You can touch me, Bowen. I won’t break.”
“Sometimes even the strongest people break,” he said.
“Are you talking about you or me?”
“Both maybe.”
He traced his fingers over her lips and then his hand slid down her neck to her chest, where he grazed over the top of her breast. “I don’t want to scare you, to hurt you any more than you already have been.”
“You won’t hurt me.”
“How do you know?”
“Did Gavin tell you about me and Harlis?”
