C H A P T E R T W E N T Y – F I V E
C H A P T E R T W E N T Y – F I V E
Altair
I ’ve crossed a line.
She’s going to run.
But I can feel her everywhere, and my whole body is on fire. Even worse for my level of control, I can sense her arousal, the way her body wants mine, the way she aches for me. It’s like a drug, and I am losing myself in it, in her .
I’m trying to gather myself, but it’s impossible to shake the feeling of her pressing down on me, her weight so perfectly balanced on mine, her warmth seeping into my skin as I curse the training leathers between us.
The heat between her thighs, her quickening breath, the way her pulse flutters under my fingers. And she is just as aware of me, of what I can’t hide—the way my body responds to her, hardens beneath her, so close to where it would feel so good.
“I think you'd find yourself spread out on this mat, with me buried so deep inside you, you wouldn’t be able to walk from this room when I was finished.”
The words left my mouth before I could stop them. But… she gasps, her lips parting as her breath catches in her throat, her freckled cheeks pinking just enough to make me bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself from claiming her lips again.
It’s too much.
Knowing she wants it perhaps as much as I do. For a moment, I think she might kiss me again, push me further over the edge, and fuck, I would let her.
But I catch myself. Just barely.
I stand, pulling her up with me, trying to regain control. It’s dangerous. So fucking dangerous. I want to take her, to feel her under me, her body trembling as I lose myself in her.
But I can’t. Not like this. Not when I know what it would mean—for both of us. She knows that there is more I need to tell her. I know I am trying to protect her, but jumping into anything before I tell her everything, feels like I am being dishonest.
I need to be completely truthful with her first. I need to take her out of the palace.
I clear my throat, trying to shake off the lingering heat, the lingering need. “Let’s finish up for today,” I say, my voice far too calm for what I’m feeling. I have to force the words out, my body still thrumming with the tension, the desire. I watch her nod, still a little breathless, her cheeks flushed.
I’ve never seen her like this. So… vulnerable. So fucking perfect.
I clench my fists, trying to push down the overwhelming urge to touch her again, to pull her back into my arms and kiss her until she’s gasping my name. But I can’t. Not now.
But then the door opens, and Iolas walks in.
Fuck.
I take a deep breath, trying to pull myself together, trying to shake off the tension coiling inside me. He senses what’s happened. How much she’s affecting me.
And he can see how I’m holding on by a thread. I almost want to kiss him when he offers to walk her back to her room. I glance at Olwyn, her eyes flickering to the floor as if she’s embarrassed by what just happened.
I clench my jaw, frustration and desire warring inside me. Gods, I need to pull myself together. But as I stand there, the scent of her still lingering in the air, I know one thing for certain:
I’m fucked.