Chapter 16 #5
This time there was nothing tentative about it.
His mouth came down over mine harder, still controlled but hungry enough that the difference made my stomach tighten.
His arm slid more securely around my waist as I rose onto my toes, bringing us fully together, and the purr in his chest deepened when I kissed him back with the same urgency.
His tongue swept over mine again, and I met it willingly.
One slow stroke became another as the kiss deepened, and when he retreated, I followed without thinking.
The sound Malek made was rough and pleased.
My hand slid from the front of his shirt to his shoulder, feeling muscle tighten beneath my palm as he drew me closer.
I released the fabric with my other hand and reached behind his neck instead, my fingers finding the short hair at his nape.
Malek growled. The vibration rolled through his chest and into mine, low enough that I felt it everywhere our bodies pressed together.
My glands pulsed beneath the scent he had already left there, and his hand tightened around my waist—not enough to hurt, only enough for me to feel the difference between the restraint he had started with and what he wanted now.
Malek changed the angle of the kiss, the rough edge of his jaw brushing my cheek before his mouth found mine again. The neat separation between one kiss and the next disappeared. His lips moved over mine, slowed long enough to make me follow, then deepened again when I did.
I stopped caring that Tavian and Luca were somewhere nearby. I caught Malek’s lower lip gently between mine, and the growl that answered went straight through me. My fingers tightened in his hair as his arm drew me closer, his tongue sliding over mine when I opened for him again.
The soft first kiss hadn’t been uncertainty.
It had been restraint.
Heat gathered low in my stomach while Malek kissed me until my lips felt warm and sensitive.
Every time he slowed, I found myself following him for more, and each time I did, another rough vibration moved through his chest. Then his thumb slipped beneath my hair and brushed the skin just below my ear, close to the gland he had scented.
My whole body reacted. A pulse went through the sensitive spot beneath his scent, and my own honey-and-jasmine fragrance sweetened enough that even I noticed it.
Malek did too. His breathing changed as he inhaled against my lips, his arm tightening around my waist for a brief second before he deliberately loosened it again.
That tiny movement told me as much as the kiss had.
He wanted me.
But he was still paying attention.
I slid my fingers deeper into his hair and kissed him again before he could decide he needed to give me more room. Malek answered immediately, his mouth covering mine while his palm spread across my lower back and the low sound in his chest deepened.
When his thumb brushed near my gland again, a stronger shiver ran down my spine.
Malek stopped immediately. One moment his mouth had been on mine; the next he was perfectly still, breathing hard with his forehead resting against mine. His arm loosened around my waist, giving me room without dropping me completely.
“You okay?” Malek asked quietly, his golden-brown eyes searching my face while his thumb moved once against my side instead of anywhere near my gland.
It took me a second to find my voice.
“Yes. That wasn’t a bad shiver.” I assured Malek, still holding onto the back of his neck while my other hand rested against his chest. “Very much the opposite, actually.”
The tension eased from Malek’s shoulders.
“Good.” Malek murmured, a quieter purr returning beneath the word as his hand slid gently from my hair to the back of my neck.
For a few seconds, neither of us moved. His forehead remained against mine while we caught our breath, and I became painfully aware of the aftermath—the warmth in my face, the sensitive ache in my lips, his scent covering the side of my neck, and my own sweetened scent mixed thoroughly with his.
I probably would have kissed him again if something hadn’t moved through the leaves somewhere behind us.
That was when I remembered we weren’t alone.
Tavian had moved several yards away and was studying the canopy with such determined concentration that there was absolutely no chance he had actually found something interesting up there.
Luca stood closer to the water with one hand resting against a tree, considerably better at pretending he hadn’t been watching, although the deeper warmth in his sandalwood-and-herb scent gave him away.
I cleared my throat. Tavian turned immediately.
“Tavian.” I pointed one warning finger toward him while my other hand was still resting against Malek’s chest, which probably ruined most of the threat.
“I know.” Tavian pressed his lips firmly together and raised both hands, his amber eyes bright with everything he was apparently fighting not to say.
“You’re doing surprisingly well.” Luca told Tavian, dry amusement slipping into his voice while he glanced between us.
“That sounded almost sincere.” Tavian narrowed his eyes at Luca before apparently deciding it was safer to accept the compliment than test my patience.
I laughed, and Malek’s quiet purr vibrated once beneath my palm before he finally let me go.
Getting back to work after that took more effort than I wanted to admit, but I managed it anyway.
We ate beside the stream not long afterward, using a broad patch of exposed roots above the water where the ground was reasonably dry.
Tavian produced fruit from his bag and looked so pleased when he offered me some that I almost refused on principle now that I knew exactly what the gesture could mean.
Almost.
“Don’t make that face.” I warned Tavian as I took a piece from his hand, catching the immediate satisfaction that brightened his features.
“What face?” Tavian asked as he offered the remaining fruit toward Luca, widening his eyes in an attempt at innocence that might have worked better if I hadn’t already met the leopard version.
“The one that says you’re mentally adding this to some courtship scorecard.” I bit into the fruit and pointed the remaining half toward Tavian while he tried not to grin.
“There’s no scorecard.” Tavian assured me as he settled back against the root, though his mouth was still twitching when he said it.
“He would make one if you gave him the idea.” Luca told me as he accepted a piece of fruit from Tavian and leaned comfortably against the trunk behind him.
“Then I take it back.” I informed Luca as I took another bite, deciding the subject was safer if I stopped feeding Tavian’s imagination.