CHAPTER 33 #2
“Why were you awake in the first place?” she asked, and I couldn’t help but notice how most of the bite from earlier was gone from her voice.
“Couldn’t sleep.”
She tilted her head, narrowing those icy eyes up at me over her bare shoulder. “Why?”
“Too many things going through my head.” I slid my hands in the pockets of my pants, only now realizing that I’d forgotten the vest I always wore back in the room in my haste to follow her. “Then someone,” a pointed glare, “distracted me.”
She looked up from under lowered eyebrows. “It’s not very polite to follow your allies without them knowing, you know.”
My mouth twitched. “It’s also not very polite to sneak out in the middle of the night without letting your allies know.” I leaned closer to her, lowering my voice. “One could almost think you didn’t want us knowing about your little escapade.”
She huffed, droplets flying in every direction with the sardonic shake of her head. “What a ridiculous idea.”
There was no biting back the smirk that rose to my lips. “Right?”
We closed the last few steps separating us from the house’s entrance in silence, the downpour finally receding to an annoying drizzle. When we were upon the threshold, Davina stopped, turned toward me, and the icy fire in her eyes had me tensing on instinct for whatever she was going to say next.
“Are you going to follow me now?”
Cursed be the sap, the sea, the moon, and every damned star in the sky above us.
My sharp intake of breath wasn’t missed, nor was the softening of her posture as she waited for my response. Just a fraction, but I felt it like a shift in gravity. Every part of me strained to go after her. To pull her to me right here and now. To finally give in.
I could practically feel her in my arms already, fingers tracing the water beading along her skin, my mouth chasing every single drop. I’d finally devour her until the only thing that mean, witty mouth of hers could say was my name.
If only I could forget every responsibility. Every single thing that kept me away from Davina Lachlan and her sinful perfection.
As if she could make out the rejection in my eyes, she arched her back a touch more, lifting her chin to keep my gaze locked with hers—and sap help me.
Her breasts rose with the movement, the fabric of the dress, now drenched, barely holding them in check.
My mouth dried. Desperation clawed at my spine.
To tear the cursed thing in half until the expanse of her was exposed to the night and to me.
We were no more rivals than the moon and the sea.
My teeth clenched, and I inwardly cursed her for being everything I’d ever wanted, as much as all I could never have.
Get a grip, Zeph.
I straightened, every muscle pulling taut. My hands, now at my sides, fisted so tightly I could feel my short nails biting into the skin of my palms.
“I don’t think that would be wise.” A chestnut eyebrow rose in challenge. I was seconds away from losing control, so I took the coward’s way out, pushing the ball to her court. “Do you?”
“I thought we already were past the wise line,” she said, voice midnight soft. A lethal blow.
My eyelids fell shut as my cock twitched against the tight confines of my pants. Gods, she was right there, laid out like a question I already knew the answer to. Offering herself to me on a silver platter. And I wanted her so damn much it hurt.
But then I’d have to face her tomorrow, and the day after. I’d have to carry the memory of tonight into every lie, every step I took into betrayal.
Because I would betray her.
That truth was carved in stone, cold and immovable. We stood on opposite sides of a battle we couldn’t stop.
It was that last thought that finally cooled the wildfire in my blood, if only just enough to cage the need. No matter how much I wanted her, not even Davina Lachlan was worth the fallout that would follow.
“Then why have you been avoiding me like the plague since Kamea?” I didn’t need to specify. I refused to believe she had fared any better than I had in erasing our almost-kiss from her mind.
She planted her hands on her hips, fingers curling into the dips of her waist. “I have not.”
I let out a quiet, slow chuckle. “Liar.”
Her mouth fell open, then snapped shut when she realized there was no point in denying it. She had been avoiding me. Two days of nothing but stiff pleasantries and avoided glances.
Enough to make me miss her bite.
She turned around, giving me her back as she pushed the door open. I didn’t let my eyes travel below her shoulders as I buried the surge of disappointment that urged me to undo what little progress I’d achieved in the last minute.
My point had landed exactly where I’d intended: on her pride. I could now be certain there would be no more offers for me to join her.
It’s better this way.
“Good night, Lachlan.”
She stopped in the hall, turning her head just enough for me to catch her profile over the slope of her bare shoulder. Silence stretched between us, taut and full of unspoken words.
In the end, without uttering a word, she continued to the door to her room and closed it behind her.
A sad smile curled my lip. A menace indeed.