Page 56 of The Poison Season

She glanced up a moment later to see Jaren standing in the open door of the cottage. It was twilight, and he hadn’t lit his candle yet. The thought of him sitting alone in the dark sent an ache through her, and she was glad she’d come, that at least for a little while, he wouldn’t be alone.

Far away, she could hear the faint singing from the festival. And if she could hear it... Without thinking, she rushed forward, shoving him back into the cottage so hard he tripped over the threshold and landed on his backside in the nest of blankets.

Leelo slammed the door shut behind her and dropped to her knees, grabbing Jaren roughly by the face and turning his head from side to side.

She sighed in relief when she saw the creamy tufts of wool in his ears. Jaren’s mouth quirked in a grin. Suddenly, she realized she was practically on top of him. Flushing furiously, she started to lean back, but Jaren’s hand caught her waist, stopping her.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, a little too loudly because of the wool.

Leelo strained to listen, but she couldn’t hear the singing inside the cottage. Hesitantly, with tingling fingers, she plucked the wool from his ears. With his face so close to hers and his body heat warming her through the thin fabric of her dress, it took a moment to remember why she’d come in the first place.

She lifted the little cake in her left hand, frowning when she saw that in her haste, she had squished it against his tunic. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

But Jaren wasn’t looking at the cake. He was looking at her mouth. Her head spun a little, and she wasn’t sure if it was the wine or Jaren. Probably both. She thought of the islanders who would get engaged tonight, of the look on her mother’s face when she’d spoken about how you knew when you liked someone.You think about them all the time...your heart races when your eyes meet...

She didn’t just like Jaren, though. Shewantedhim. She wanted him to want her. The next thing she knew she was leaning forward, pressing her mouth to his.

When his hand slid beneath her hair to cup the nape of her neck, she let the crumbled cake fall, freeing her hand so she could touch his own soft waves, her fingers tangling in the silken strands. He smiled against her lips, and she would have laughed if she wasn’t too busy kissing him. This, she decided, was far better than any cake.

He eased his lips free of hers after a moment. “Leelo,” he said, his gray eyes a little hooded. “As much as I enjoyed this greeting, I feel it is my duty to point out that you’ve been drinking.”

She sat back, self-conscious that he’d smelled the wine on her breath. But he didn’t look angry or disgusted, just mildly amused. “I’m sorry,” she said, shaking her head a little to clear it. “I don’t know what came over me.”

He handed her his waterskin. “Elderberry wine, by the taste of things.”

Her face went scarlet as she clamped a hand over her mouth, but he pulled it away gently. “Leelo, I like the way you taste.”

Now her face was truly on fire. She drank so much water she nearly choked, and he patted her on the back.

“Easy, there.”

At least the room had stopped spinning. She sat back on the floor and waited for his face to come into focus. “I really am sorry. I didn’t think. I just wanted to see you. And I thought you’d like the cake.” She gestured feebly to the heap of crumbs on the blanket.

“I’m extremely happy you came to see me,” Jaren said, and truth be told, he looked a little tipsy himself.

“You drank some of the plum brandy, didn’t you?” she asked.

He colored and looked down. “Guilty. I was feeling bad for myself that you were at a festival with your friends while I was stuck alone in this shack.”

Leelo laughed, a little less embarrassed now. “I thought you might be feeling that way.”

“And you weren’t having fun?” He pinched some of the crumbs between his fingers and tossed them into his mouth. “The food was clearly excellent.”

Leelo sighed, tugging a daisy free of her hair and spinning it between her fingers, just to give them something to do. “I don’t know. Everyone was dancing, but my heart wasn’t in it.”It was here, with you, she thought, and then wondered what was happening to her. She’d known Jaren just a few weeks. She couldn’t be falling for him. That was ridiculous.

He tossed a few more crumbs into his mouth and leaned back. “I feel like this is a dream, and any moment I’m going to wake up.”

“Why does it feel like a dream?” she asked shyly.

“Because I wished you would come here. And I wished I could kiss you. So, you see, I’ve had two wishes come true in a row, and that never happens. Clearly, I must be dreaming.”

“Technically,” Leelo said, scooting closer to Jaren, “Ikissedyou.”

He reached up, twisting a lock of her hair around his finger. “That is a fair point.”

Her voice dropped almost to a whisper. “So only one of your wishes came true.”

He smiled, his thick lashes falling against his cheeks as he sat up and closed the space between them. His lips were soft but firm, his entire body radiating warmth that she wanted to curl up in like a blanket. She pressed as close to him as she dared, and when he wrapped his arms around her, bringing her even closer, any trepidation she’d felt before coming here melted away. She felt the farthest from scared she could imagine. In fact, it was the safest she could remember feeling, as if the rest of the world didn’t matter when they were here together in this tiny cottage in the woods that no one else knew about. As if nothing else existed at all.

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