Page 44 of Winter's Edge
Archer sat up and looked first at Sasha and then at me with a glint of hope in his eyes that kindled deep inside my heart. "First time for everything, I guess."
I grinned, and he grinned right back, perfect reflections of our broken souls on the path to healing.
* * *
We spent the next several hours planning and packing our few belongings.
"What about the books?" I asked Archer as he crossed back and forth through the kitchen.
"Those aren't ours. They were here when we got here."
"You mean someone just left them?" I stared at them through Sasha’s eyes as I stood before them, incredulous that someone could abandon so many.
"Well, books don't travel well to the afterlife."
"Oh. The person before…"
"Died. He was older, I think, maybe senile, and wandered right into the Crimson Forest."
I brushed my hand over them, feeling the worn spines and the letters etched into them. My favorite as a kid had been thick and green with golden lettering on the cover. I couldn't remember what it was called, or anything else about it really, or even who'd read it to me since that was long before Jade. But I remembered I loved it and felt a rush of excitement when I hugged it to my chest. Maybe it was here.
"Aika," Archer said from almost right next to me. I’d been so lost in the idea of books that I hadn't even heard him come closer, and Sasha was too busy lazily batting at a red ribbon dangling from a book to notice. "Can you read?"
I tried for a smile and shook my head. "I started to learn before I went blind. I'd study my brother’s old school papers to teach myself, but afterward… My baba said it cost way too much money to learn to read by feel, and the library in Margin didn't have anything to help."
He was watching me closely, the firelight next to the bookshelf playing across his dark eyes. "I could teach you."
"You can learn by feel?"
"Well, no, but I could learn and then teach you."
My jaw dropped. "You would…" My chest warmed at the very idea that he'd do something like that—basically learn a whole new language—just for me. Especially when most people I'd ever known wouldn't bother. "But…when?"
He chuckled. "Probably not today."
A laugh bubbled up from inside me, making everything hurt again, but I didn't care. "You would do that?"
He brushed my fingers with his, triggering a thrill straight up my arm. "That night—the one when you heard a noise outside and you came out here to investigate. When you found the books, you smiled so big, bigger than I'd ever seen on you before. And when you first got here and I read you stories, I think you forgot you were hurt for a while."
"Either that or I couldn't get enough of the reader's deep voice." I snapped my mouth shut. Oh, for fuck's sake. Why had I just admitted that out loud? I’d blame it on the extra cup of opiate tea he’d given me for the pain in my shoulder.
He chuckled low and then touched my chin. "You like the sound of my voice?"
I liked everything about him, but I just nodded and chomped down on my tongue in case more truths came out that I wasn't quite ready to reveal.
"Well, I could read to you and teach you." He grazed his fingertip upward and traced the curve of my lower lip.
I felt the feather-light touch throughout my entire body in fiery shocks that made me shiver. "I would love that," I admitted.
“Yeah?” He slid his finger along the seam of my lips and stepped closer.
The air between us grew heavy, making it harder to breathe. My heartbeat kicked up at his nearness, and tingling heat perked my nipples and sank lower in dizzying spirals. His lips touched mine briefly, and then again, harder. I sighed into his kiss and opened my mouth to him, winding my good arm around his wide shoulders. His tongue slid against mine in long, sensual strokes, and I gasped at how good it felt. He cupped my face in his large hands and tilted my head to kiss me deeper, more urgently. His body pressed up against mine and towered over me. It felt like he was trying to kiss my soul, and I wanted him to. I wanted him to kiss everything, every part of me.
With a raspy groan, he pulled away from my kiss and dipped lower to my neck, one arm wrapping around to squeeze my ass. I moaned as I slid my hand to the back of his long hair and twined the silky strands around my fingers. He nudged his hips against mine as he backed us toward the couch, and his hard heat hit me right between the legs. Careful of my shoulder, he lowered me to the couch, kissing his way back to my mouth again.
"So good," he breathed against my lips.
He brought one hand down my neck to the swell of my chest and cupped my breast over the flannel I wore. I arched into his palm, my hips thrusting forward into his.
