Don’t think about Jasce’s naked body.
My traitorous mind refuses to obey. I think about every inch of his bronzed, chiseled body.
Stop it!
As if sensing my thoughts, Jasce’s grip tightens against me, but he doesn’t speak. Instead, he continues leading Scarlet around the courtyard. I pay attention to the way he moves the reins and the way the mare responds, putting everything to memory for the next time.
Hopefully, the next time will not include a confusing barbarian warrior.
ChapterNineteen
When we returnto the stables, Jasce helps me dismount from the mare and leads me into the shadows of the barn. My breath catches at the warmth glinting behind his brown eyes.
“Jasce,” I say, my voice too wobbly, too revealing of my momentary attraction to him.
He hooks his arms around my hips and pulls me flush against him, the heat emanating from his body making me ache between my legs. It’s a strange sensation, this ache.
“You’re shaking again.” Lightly, he caresses my arm—right where the goosebumps formed the moment he pulled me close.
“Maybe if you weren’t so…” The words die against my lips.
“So?”
“Big.” Inwardly, I groan. Did I really just call him big?
“I’m big?”
“I meant…” I lick my lower lip. “You’re…tall.”
He pulls back and smirks. “Tall? Is that all you’re going to offer?”
I can’t stop the blush that rises from my chest, travels up my neck, and settles in my cheeks.
Jasce, of course, notices.
“Do you like my body?” He trails his fingers from the curve of my elbow to my shoulder blade and back down.
Yes.“No.”
“You even lie differently.”
“I don’t.”
“Your voice raises an octave.” He traces down my arm, stroking, caressing.
“It doesn’t.”
His hand travels over my shoulder, and tangles in my hair. He pulls, tilting my head back and exposing my neck.
I know I should push him away, but I like this foreign feeling, this pulsing between my legs, this heat emitting between us, this dream where I am a woman desired by a man.
If I wake up from this illusion, I’ll be the woman with the scars again. Repulsive again. Suppressed again.
The warmth of his breath whispers against my skin as he leans closer and presses his mouth against my throat.
Jasce’s lips move up my neck until they find mine, crushing them with an intensity that leaves me breathless. I kiss him back, giving into an urge I have never surrendered to before. That urge to kiss a man, to feel his mouth against mine, to taste him, to feel him against me.
His tongue plunges inside my mouth, and I moan as tingles shoot through my veins. I rise on tiptoes and curl my fingers into his hair, touching the soft strands.TouchingJasce.
