Page 53 of A City of Flames

“I can do it—” Lorcan winces when I slather it on regardless and then manages a slight chuckle. “Always so brute, Nara.”

“I don’t care.” My tone is sharp though my sigh shows the concern tugging low within.

With a murmur, he says, “I didn’t think you’d worry this much.”

“I’m not.” I try to find the strength in my voice, but there is none when I can’t seem to lie.

He doesn’t say anything to that. We don’t say anything for a while, but I know he’s looking at me... staring at every movement of my hand.

I inhale once I’m done, knowing I have to step back, yet I can’t.

Setting the vial aside on the bed, I wipe any neem residue on the cloth. My gaze then wanders to the scar. Surprisingly on the other side, he looks to be healing well enough already. But that scar.

Drawn to it this time, my fingers reach out to caress the corners, the red pigment contrast to the rose tint of his skin.

“Nara,” he grinds out as if my touch scalds him, but I don’t stop. I focus on the way the oil lamps burn bright, and sweat trickles down his forehead.

My breath shakes, sliding my fingers away from his scar to the hard muscle of his abdomen. I flicker my gaze to his lips, betrayed by how close I am to him.

Allowing myself to pry my eyes from the sharp curves of his cupid’s bow, I stare at him.

I can’t look away this time. No matter how much I want to, I’m tangled in the branches of his forest gaze.

He’s breathing hard.

I’m breathing hard.

And for one second, he’s staring at my lips. The next, they’re on mine, swallowing my small gasp.

I’m frozen, unsure of what to do. My eyes are still open as he goes slow, parting my lips with his own, and shivers of what I’ve never felt before run down my legs. He knows this is new to me, but as if a natural urgency takes over my body, my eyes close, melting into him.

He lifts me and places me on his lap. My legs come at each side of him just as his hand curves around my back and the other slides to the nape of my neck. My palms travel to his chest, aware of his wound, and what was gentle about the kiss ceases to exist as his tongue glides along the bottom of my lip.

Everything I’d thought of what my first kiss could be like didn’t prepare me for how my body reacts, how I crave more and more as he tilts his head. I push further against him, taking my hands off him only to dive them into his hair.

My pulse flickers with trepidation at the unknown, and at every minute, his fingers caress my thick, full curves.

He whispers my name more times than I can count. A yearning in the syllables, Na-ra, sends a pulse of heat to every part of me, causing a sigh to come from my lips against his.

“I think kissing you has healed me completely,” he says, his palms skimming along my thighs.

My eyes still closed, I breathe a laugh, mid-kiss. “Maybe it’s time we stop then.” I don’t want to stop. I don’t want to stop at all.

He shifts my body closer to him so that our hips join, and I can swear a groan escapes him. “I don’t think I want to—” He kisses me again.”—But then you, here on top of me, isn’t helping what else I’d like to do.”

“And what’s that else?” Experienced or not, I knew enough for that else to mean things beyond a kiss. Yet I want to hear it from him.

His lips curve into a smile over mine. “If—”

The door to the chamber hits against the wall just then, and my eyes fly open. Abruptly, I pull back, stumbling away from Lorcan and covering myself as if I were the one shirtless when I’m not.

My face pales as I look at the door where the general keeps a firm grip on the doorknob.

He saw me on top of Lorcan, he walked in on— “Sorry I—” Shame floods me at how I’d let myself go for the second time.

The general snaps his head to me, staring long and hard, without a word leaving his lips.

“Erion,” Lorcan addresses him, not as the general and not as someone of authority. But the general doesn’t even sneak a glance his way.

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