Page 24 of Bound By Fire and Magic
He settled in beside her, his body wrapped around hers, one leg draped over her hips. She snuggled even closer into his arms. Now that her body was sated, fatigue washed over her like an ocean wave. It felt good. Right. She decided that she’d misjudged Kirin. He probably hadn’t seen anything on that note.
“Sleep, love,” she murmured, her eyes drifting shut against her will.
“Mine,” he said, his finger stroking down her arm.
His. She was his, and yes, her soul craved his possession.
She put her hand over his. “Yours.”
He tightened his hold on her, and in that moment of feeling loved and safe, she gave in to sleep.
The next thing she knew, there was a gasp at the door.
8
“Miss Ellie!”
Kirin went from dreamland to rudely awake with that one startled exclamation. Oh, and Elle yelping and rolling off him and onto the floor. Leaving him rather exposed, thank you very much.
“Ooooh,” the woman, who was probably in her fifties, said, her eyes wide.
Elle popped up, her cheeks pink, pulling on her robe. “Esmerelda. Uh, good morning.” She shoved the sheet at him, which he pulled over himself. Not that he was modest, but he respected the fact that most Deuces were.
“Is no morning.” Esmerelda tapped her watch. “I didn’t know anyone was here.”
Elle surged to her feet and looked at the clock at the same time he did. Noon. Thank God they hadn’t slept past the time his Dragon was to return. He had to get his father out of that tulpa the moment it came back.
“We’d better get moving.” Elle gave Esmerelda a sheepish smile. “You remember Kirin?”
The maid’s brown eyes alighted on him. “Yes, of course. Nice young man.”
He gave her a smile of gratitude, the best he could manage given his delicate situation.
“I’ll heat pierogies. Enough for both of you.” She pulled the door closed as she left.
Elle burst out laughing. “Now that was an embarrassing way to wake up.” She sank to the corner of the bed, one long leg tucked beneath her. Her expression grew serious, all trace of laughter gone. “So, what now, Kirin?”
Between us. That’s what she meant. Her eyes looked as rich as melted chocolate, her Deuce fog swirling.
What he wanted to say was, I want you, tonight and always, in my bed and my life, no matter what happens. But there was something he needed to tell her first. He would not let his lie stand between them.
Before he could open his mouth, she said, “I tried to find you in Atlanta. I was driving through to pick up my horse in North Carolina.” She shook her head, and the light streaming in through the curtains danced over her hair. “I waited outside the building around lunch time. I really, really wanted to see you and feel nothing. Not anger or love or anything. But I still felt both just as strong.”
His chest was too tight to speak for a moment. Finally, he said, “I didn’t know. I wish you’d come up to me.”
She gave him a tremulous smile. “Me, too.”
She started to reach for him, but he didn’t move. It was all he could do not to forgo the whole being-honest thing. But he had to. “While we’re in confession mode…I did see the note your mom wrote to my pop.”
She dropped her hand. “What?”
“I saw some of the note, the signature line: Thank you from the bottom of my heart, T. If we’re going to go any further—and I want to go further—I have to be honest with you. I never told anyone, not even Lyra.”
She swallowed hard, shifting slightly away. “Lyra must have seen something incriminating for her to burn the damned thing.”
“She admitted she only saw that it was Tara’s writing. She panicked before even reading it, typical Lyra, and acted on impulse. She was afraid it would prove that they’d been romantically involved, which might implicate him in Tara’s disappearance. We grew up on stories about an uncle who was executed by the Guard based on circumstantial evidence. Lyra was terrified that the note would do the same to Pop.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “So was I.”
Kirin could see Elle close down, almost like she’d pulled a shutter between them.
