A Force of Reckoning #2
My throat seized. He’d been enslaved for all that time—her imprisoned toy. How did someone come out of that unscathed? How did he look this cool and pretty when he was so close to the same person who’d hurt him for centuries?
If it were me, I wouldn’t be calm. I’d be unraveling. But then again, maybe he was. The way his eyes skipped back and forth, scanning the trees, watching for enemies, the tension in his body visible in his arms and neck, maybe he wasn’t calm. Maybe this was him unraveling.
I wanted to reach out and touch him, soothe the frantic dance his muscles were doing, but I kept my hands to myself. I couldn’t do that to him, not when I wasn’t sure what I meant by it. Pity? Friendship? Comradery? Lust? More?
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to kiss him again. My lips still burned where his had been. He’d managed to enslave me with one kiss, and it was ridiculous how much I wanted another one. But I shook away the vicious thoughts of yearning.
We had a witch bitch to slay.
“I can end her quickly. Trust me to do this, V.” Cash’s purple eyes seemed to penetrate my very soul.
He was asking, not demanding. I could say no. I could tell him to leave it. I could claim his vengeance, and he would let me. I picked up on how vulnerable he’d made himself tonight just by the words he used to convince me.
“Okay, Cash, she’s yours. But I won’t stand by if she hurts you, so if you don’t manage to do it, I will,” I promised with a tight throat.
His eyes widened for a moment. “Hurts me?”
“Yes, Cash. If she hurts you, I’ll step in,” I reiterated firmly.
“I’m done watching people I care about get hurt, and if you’re going to trust me with a part of yourself you’ve never given to anyone else, then I’m going to protect it, okay?
I know you think you have something to prove, but you don’t.
You have a past, but so does everyone here. What you do now is what matters to me.”
As if he’d been hit with the shock of his life, the Dark Fae stood stock-still, mouth agape. But as if he’d been jolted back into action, he moved closer, and our faces were inches apart again. “Those barbarians don’t deserve you,” he whispered, his hot breath painting my lips. “But neither do I.”
And then he kissed me.
I didn’t push him away. I honestly should have.
But I clung to him. I dragged him closer.
I wasn’t helping anyone by letting him have his way—certainly not me, the one already mixed up with three other people—but with how urgently his mouth moved over mine, I couldn’t find the strength to say no or stop the kiss.
Worse, I didn’t want him to stop.
His hands were in my hair, then trailing down my body and pulling me impossibly close in a series of frantic movements.
He was terrified I’d run. It was clear by the way he grappled my sides and crowded my body against his.
So when I wrapped my arms around his neck instead of escaping, the little sound he made was terrifyingly sweet.
Like he’d never been so happy.
Like he’d finally gotten permission for something he’d wanted to do forever.
It hit me right in the hips, and I found myself kissing him back just as desperately. I’d conveniently ignore the uncountable ways I could be punished for doing this with someone no one else trusted. It was a bomb waiting to hit my life if anyone ever found out.
Still, it was as if I couldn’t help myself.
The lure was too strong. Cash’s lips were a magnet I couldn’t prize myself away from.
His kiss felt like everything I shouldn’t want but needed.
So, I did what I always did. I favored pleasure over sense.
I left the consequences for future me to figure out. Because, fuck, it was so good.
He kissed like a goddamn madman, and the way he moved his tongue, coaxing mine into a perfect dance while his hands slipped under my shirt and teased my heated skin nearly made me forget where we were and what we were about to do.
Shit.
“We can’t. There’s so many reasons—” I murmured before his lips smothered my next words.
“I know, love,” he breathed roughly before grabbing hold of my jaw with one hand and kissing me again. “…gods, I know.”
Our tongues twined for several intense minutes before he pulled away, breathing heavily.
His pupil-blown irises had barely any color in them, just hints of glowing purple.
A predatory stare that made my thighs quiver.
I’d never seen him look so…hungry. When the gleam in his eyes finally calmed, the color returning, Cash seemed to come to his senses.
As if it hadn’t happened, we broke away and started heading for the largest cave entrance to Harmony’s hideout, and it was the first time I smelled the foul stench of blood magic.
It permeated the space with actual weight.
I slowed, sensing a dramatic shift in the air.
It was an explosive sensation that crawled over my skin and put me on immediate alert.
Cash took my hand, another one of his river rocks already vibrating above his palm. “I thought you would hide behind your wall, but I guess you can still surprise me after all these years, Harmony.”