Kiss, Don’t Tell
Kiss, Don’t Tell
“We used to be partners.”
Flabbergasted, I directed wide eyes up at the Austrian. I all but ignored the pang of envy in my chest. “You had other partners?”
“Briefly. Many didn’t last very long. Kris lasted longer than most, and we still talk like normal to this day. Can’t say the same about the others. Guess I can be a bit difficult to deal with.”
No fucking kidding.
“So…?”
“No, we never slept together, if that’s what you’re asking,” Phillip offered, a devious smirk distorting his mouth. “I’ve made it a personal rule not to touch my partners.”
When? Does kissing not count?
I internally berated myself for thinking about the kiss again, because he’d even said it was to activate my blood.
His blood was some sort of catalyst. Sure, he could’ve done it other ways, but Phillip was a jerk of the worst kind and wanted to destroy a young girl’s life. But then, why had he offered to do other things if he didn’t touch his partners?
As a joke?
Something about the way he touched me made it feel like he’d make good on the offer if I showed the least bit of interest. Or was I just making excuses? Did I want him to mean it?
Shit. Shit. Shit.
I opened my mouth, but words weren’t forthcoming. Pain hit my chest, and I struggled to figure out why it bothered me so much he might never touch me again.
It was an important rule to keep, and it made perfect sense.
Partners needed to trust one another, and they certainly needed to keep emotion out of it.
Of course, getting close was natural and not a bad thing.
But a relationship that went beyond friendship could severely complicate things.
Unless it was a well-established relationship where both partners understood the risks.
“That’s a good rule to have,” I finally said, looking away. “You two seem close. That’s the only reason I asked.”
“Hmm,” Phillip hummed, still invading my personal space. “You seem disappointed.”
“I’m not,” I snapped before walking ahead. “We’re wasting time. Nigel’s probably at the top. We better get our asses up there before he thinks we left him to do all the work.”
My wrist was captured before I could stomp off too far ahead, and I was jerked back into a hard body.
The speed could only be Phillip’s because it matched mine.
I could’ve very easily fought it—something told me I was faster and stronger than him—but I didn’t.
I let him capture me. I wanted to bask in his aroma.
When his scent overwhelmed mine and I looked up, beyond confused, a halo of light surrounded his head and blinded me.
Why does he smell like mint?
Sadly, mint was my favorite scent, having chosen it for both shampoo and body wash, and really anything I could. Today, Phillip smelled almost entirely of peppermint. The thought that he might be presumptuously using my body wash did things to me. Things that made my cheeks hot and heart hammer.
I imagined him naked in the shower with my favorite scent lathering his skin. And because of that, his scent was just as distracting as his criminally sexy smiles and devastatingly hot body were.
Next to Nigel’s gentle smiles, powerful body, and contagious laughter, I had to wonder if I’d fallen into a new level of Hell.
It all sure felt like torture.
“Are you reconsidering the break-up?”
I shuddered at the deep register of his voice. “What do you mean?”
“Is he really worth it?” Phillip’s jaw clenched, and the muscles along his neck strained. “He treats you like you’re fragile and weak. He doesn’t see how strong you are, and I don’t think he ever will. He’s a small-minded man who thinks a woman only needs to be protected.”
I opened my mouth, not terribly sure what I wanted to say but confident I’d figure it out. “What makes you think you have any right to weigh in on any of that? Weren’t you just telling me to do whatever I wanted?” I threw my hands up in the air, scoffing. “I can’t with you.”
The Hunter’s large hands cradled my face, and my jaw snapped shut in shock. “He can’t treat you the way you need to be treated. He won’t challenge you. He won’t push you to be more. He’ll hold you back from all your potential. It’s a waste.”
“A waste?”
Suddenly, Phillip’s face was close enough that his breath bathed my lips and memories of our kiss came rushing back.
Forget that we were out in the open, on a mission, and very likely in viewing distance of the same guy I discarded a week ago, but it was like I couldn’t find the headspace to be bothered. All that mattered was what Phillip said to me and his heat close to mine.
“You’ll never be satisfied with him. You might pretend to be, but he can’t give you the kind of pleasure I can.”
Pleasure?
I yanked my face out of his hold and broke the trance he’d put me into. “I don’t know what gave you the idea that a relationship is decided on pleasure alone, but it’s not. Not the kind I want to be in, anyway. I want more. I won’t settle for less than that.”
I glared at the expressionless Austrian as he stood silently in front of me.
“It doesn’t matter. No one deserves to be made a target just for being with me, and that’s the only reason I let him go.
I won’t drag anyone into something like that.
Least of all Nigel. So, no, I hadn’t reconsidered our break-up.
If anything, I reconsidered having relationships as a whole. ”
Phillip didn’t say anything for minutes, just watched me.
Then he was back in front of me, strong hands clutching my face, stubbornly refusing to let me get away again.
Swiftly and without hesitation, the other Hunter’s mouth overpowered mine.
His tongue pushed past my lips and tasted the inside of my mouth in a way that made my knees weak, all but stealing my will to fight.
Before I knew what I was doing, my hands twisted into his shirt and dragged him closer, answering his kiss like I’d been waiting for it. As if his kiss was exactly what I needed all this time and hadn’t realized it.
And it didn’t matter how it was by far the most inappropriate place and time, or how we could be easily discovered.
Nothing mattered when Phil’s kiss was the answer to endless questions churning inside my head the last several weeks.
The answer to deep need and yearning that plagued me for as long as I’d been around him.
Phillip’s low groan of satisfaction rumbled between us.
Hands slid into my hair and brought our mouths impossibly close, never letting me stray a single breath away.
The Austrian’s lips tasted mine with confidence and urgency.
Like my mouth was the first drink of water after nothing but desert.
Like my lips were the most delicious food he’d ever tasted.
His kiss was powerful and sure, just like the man himself. It pooled heat into my hips and set my nerves on fire. Enough that I completely forgot myself in hopes of living in it for a second longer.
I might not have kissed anyone before the Austrian, but something told me kisses like Phil’s weren’t easy to come by. He knew exactly how to derive the most pleasure.
And when he swooped down, sliding his lips lightly along the column of my neck, there wasn’t any way I could pretend I didn’t want it. It was quite literally the most amazing sensation I’d ever felt, and left prisoner to it any longer would likely have me begging for more.
Phillip nibbled my lower lip before pulling away. His enchanting blue eyes flicked up to the ridgetop and then back down to me. “This isn’t finished.”
I wasn’t sure what he meant.
In a daze, I watched the other Hunter put space between us.
Then a voice called out. I looked over lazily and caught sight of Nigel striding with purpose our direction.
Guilt plowed into me like I’d been physically assaulted, and I worried for a second the Shifter knew.
But his small wave and apologetic smile suggested he hadn’t.
Phillip’s fingers moved across the screen of his phone, and mine pinged a second later. I looked down to find a text from him: “We moved too fast for a Shifter to see.”
Glancing up, Phillip’s expressive eyes beamed at me.
Another text came in: “But I’ll give it to you slower next time.”
‘Next time,’ he said. Despite the guilt, my heart raced with the thought there’d be another time, maybe soon. And then I was consumed by self-disgust.
My head and body were at odds.
Why couldn’t I just stop myself and stay away? Why couldn’t I reject the temptation the way I had before? What about Phillip made me not want to?
Glaring at the sneaky scoundrel beside me, I didn’t bother to text back. The asshole didn’t expect me to, either. His grin said so. The satisfied expression on the Hunter’s face agitated me to no end while he addressed Nigel, who looked at the two of us with suspicion in his eyes.
“Find anything of interest?”
“Unfortunately, no. I didn’t see you two at all. Did you guys check out another area?”
The guilt hitting my stomach was unbearable.
“No. We just got a little bit distracted,” I answered quickly.
Phillip brushed silver-encased knuckles over his mouth, smirking. “Yes. Distracted is a good way to put it.”
I palmed my face, pulse thundering. “We’ve been out here for a few hours, so I think maybe we should take a break.”
Nigel nodded his agreement and dragged a hand over the back of his neck. His shirt was doused with sweat, and he looked a little short of breath. He hadn’t looked anything like that before he went to the mountain top, so the sudden moisture interested me.
Then he spoke. “You didn’t fall, then?”
That was when it hit me.
Nigel actually thought I might’ve fallen and probably went looking for me, all while I kissed another guy. Hate wasn’t a strong enough word for how I felt about myself in that moment.
Phillip brushed back his hair, offering me a sideways glance. “Don’t trust that I wouldn’t let her fall?”
Nigel’s entire body stiffened. “You don’t seem like the type to care, no.”
For the first time, I was angry at Nigel. It festered in my throat as I directed a heated sneer the Shifter’s direction. “That’s not fair. Phillip may be a lot of things—an asshole, overly confident, a massive player, a poor example of an adult man, plenty misguided—”
“Don’t hold back on my account,” Phillip snarked with a low chuckle.
I coughed a little and continued, “But he’d never let me get hurt. I know you two have some sort of issue with each other, but it’s not okay to speak as if you have any clue who the other person is when you haven’t bothered to try to get to know one another.”
It was evident in both men’s stares that neither expected me to come to the Hunter’s defense, and even I was a bit surprised by my own actions.
But I’d spent a day with both men making assumptions about each other without even bothering to really talk.
It felt necessary to say something because both of them were acting like kids.
Nigel appeared genuinely sorry and nodded. “You’re right. I need to go speak with my pack. It may be better to come at night so we can track fresh scents.”
Phillip edged closer to me, fixing his hair. “I hate to agree with you, but it serves us better to work at night in this case.”
The Austrian slid his thumb over his lower lip, our kiss still wreaking havoc on my thoughts, and his light eyes glided over to meet mine. “We’ll reconvene tomorrow night after V and I have been given a little time to talk some things over.”
My heart couldn’t take the heat in his stare, so I looked away and smiled at Nigel. “Thanks for checking around. I know the other two Hunters would appreciate some time to get settled in.”
Nigel nodded and disappeared without another word, and my heart lurched at the memory of how upset he looked when he left.