Andblink awake with the gasping breathlessness of being caught in the middle of a wet dream. One she chose not to fight, her face flaming brighter as she slid her hand between her legs and stole a defiantly selfish moment for herself.
She came downstairs the next morning fighting her unsettling mood while admitting to herself that giving in to that moment of weakness hadn’t been the wisest decision because it was occupying far too much of her thoughts.
The sight of the sofa bed neatly put away and Valenti already setting out their breakfast only added to her disgruntlement.
But it was the idea of another day filled with sombre, brooding silence that finally made her set down her orange juice with a sharp click. Which immediately earned her a narrow-eyed glare.
‘I would like my phone back,’ she said.
He stilled. ‘What’s the point? There’s no reception out here.’
‘Why don’t we both accept that this is a failed experiment and be done with it?’
Thunder rolled across his brows. ‘A failed experiment?’
‘Jà. You made a promise, I get that. But don’t you think it’s better to throw in the towel than to make things worse?’
‘It doesn’t work that way.’
‘Pray tell, how does it work? How many wards have you successfully managed to fit into your very busy life?’ she asked, ignoring the barbs of jealousy darting like destructive fireworks through her system.
‘You’re my first. Most definitely my last.’ Something forbidding and intensely intriguing pulsed in his voice, making her emotions roil that much faster.
‘Because I’m the worst burden you ever imagined you would be asked to carry?’ she pushed with a compulsion she couldn’t fight.
A spark, not quite so harrowing but intense nevertheless, lit his eyes. ‘Not quite.’
She sucked in an audible breath, dragged both hands through her hair. ‘I’m hanging on by a thread here, Your Highness.’
The smallest quirk of a self-deprecating smile twitched across his face before his brooding expression settled in once more.
‘What was that about?’ She waved a hand over that expression.
For several beats he didn’t respond. Then, ‘You think you know what frustration is,litla?’
Litla.Little one.The sound of his deep, gruff voice wrapped around that endearment sent shafts of heat through her body. ‘Don’t call me that.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because it suggests a fondness that we both know is a lie.’
His nostrils flared. ‘It’s interesting you’re protesting about threads, yet you keep pulling at mine,’ he rasped.
The shrug she attempted seemed to require monumental effort. ‘It should bother you only if it’s one of two things.’ She flicked a finger out. ‘One, that it’s untrue.’ Then another finger. ‘Or even the merest hint of it aggravates you greatly.’
Slowly he leaned forward, unapologetically into her space. His silver eyes were bullets, aimed with deadly accuracy for her most vulnerable spots.
‘Consider a third option.’
‘Which is?’ Dammit, why did her voice quiver like a leaf in a hurricane? And why the hell couldn’t she stop the searing need to lean in just as boldly as he had, breathe him in until he filled every corner of her being?
‘That I couldn’t walk away from you, even if I tried.’
The pulse intensified, turned into a mesmerising drumbeat that fused with her heartbeat. Fast. Slow. Fast. Setting more fireworks along the way through her bloodstream. Robbing her of breath. Making him the only thing she could see. Smell.Yearn to taste.
‘And do you want to? Be honest.’
His hand shot out, making her gasp as he curled one long finger beneath her chin to ensure her gaze remained pinned on his. For the longest time he examined her face like a specimen he was endlessly fascinated with. And just when she thought she’d burst out of her skin with all the sensations flooding her, he spoke. ‘Let’s be clear about one thing. I will never lie to you.’ Still holding her captive, he thumbed the skin beneath her lower lip, a place Lotte would’ve bet a great deal of money wasn’t erogenous.
