Chapter 39 #2
So very slowly, I reach up and unstick the unruly strands with the pinch of my fingers.
Goosebumps spread across her exposed skin.
Her gaze jumps between mine; hesitation combined with expectation shines back at me.
Understandably, considering the kiss in the tavern, when I all but laid myself bare at her feet.
Then the day in the dovecote when I tried to force her to admit that she loved me.
I’ve never been able to think straight when it comes to her.
But as she reaches between us, hands splaying across the expanse of my chest to brace herself, I think … maybe she can’t think straight when it comes to me either.
I trail the tips of my fingers to the edge of her jaw, down to the point of her chin. “It was as if I could feel your light like it was my own.”
She licks her lips. “I could sense the metal in the ground for miles,” she says.
I angle her face up to mine, desperate to taste her lips.
But I don’t want to push her this time. I want her to come to me.
And as her gaze lingers on my mouth, she leans in, barely an inch away when she stops.
Neither of us move for a long beat, our breaths meeting between us in expectation before I accept that a kiss isn’t going to happen. Not until she’s ready.
“If Kai doesn’t agree to the alliance,” I ask, dragging my thumb up and over her bottom lip. “What will you do?”
My question seems to drag her out of a fog, eyes slowly gaining clarity. “You mean, who will I choose?” she asks, tone hardening. “As if I owe you my blind allegiance after you’ve literally kidnapped and held me hostage.”
Then, in a move I’m unprepared for, she grabs the front of my shirt in a fist and yanks me toward her with all of her might.
In an effort to save both of us from careening down the stairs, I latch onto the banister.
It works, but I stumble back a step, and there’s no chance of saving the bowl as it topples down the stairs, sending its contents splashing onto the floor below.
I’ve barely righted myself when I realize Jovie has maneuvered past the sword and is already halfway up the stairs.
Turning, I lunge forward to snag her by an ankle and she falls forward, catching herself on her hands.
She kicks out with her spare leg, and I jerk her toward me so her foot swings wide, just shy of my head.
“Stop,” I tell her, crawling over her and covering her with my weight, pressing her more firmly into the steps.
She doesn’t listen, grunting as she attempts to buck me off. Futile, considering the current level of her exhaustion. And, after a long moment, she seems to come to the same conclusion, and her body goes slack beneath mine.
I brace myself with hands on the tread of stairs on either side of her head, chest tight from exertion. “You can’t honestly tell me that bastard deserves your loyalty more than I do.” There’s no disguising the disbelief in my voice, the anger simmering inside of me at the notion.
“You don’t get it,” she says, voice cracking.
The raw emotion stuns me, lancing through my chest like a wooden arrow straight from the tether. I hurry to lift my weight from her back, but she makes no attempt to escape.
My breath hitches. “Jovie…”
After a moment, she flips onto her back, and I’m relieved to see there’s anger in her gaze and not tears when she looks up at me. “I think I knew I would fall in love with you before we even left Alaha, Acker,” she says, frustration giving way to determination. “I’ve always chosen you.”
Her words hurt just as much as they’re soothing.
Somehow painful and healing at the same time.
There’s a sense of relief muddled with the adrenaline of our scuffle.
My heart rate is elevated; the blood flowing through my veins grows hot at the untamed look in her eyes, as if finally admitting the truth has allowed the desire she’s been suppressing to break through.
The heat in my veins turns into a blazing fire.
Slowly, I lower my body once again, and our synchronized intakes of air when my weight fully presses down on her are sharp in the empty stairwell.
I take it as an invitation to push my knee between her thighs and she opens them willingly, letting me sink into the space.
I sink my face into the curve of her neck, running my mouth over her damp skin. “Gods, I’ve missed you.”
I drag my mouth up to close the final gap, covering her mouth with mine.
I groan as she immediately accepts my touch, mouth pliable and soft, her tongue eager to meet mine.
Everything from the way her back arches from the stairs, chest pressed against mine, to the angle of her hips when she feels the hardness pressing between her legs tells me she’s missed this just as much as I have.
Her warmth becomes all-encompassing. As we kiss, her hands rake across the skin exposed at the open collar of my shirt, the sensation echoing down the tether.
Her gift radiates from within her, and when I somehow find it in me to pull back from her lips, I’m as in awe as I am desperate to feel the ethereal glow of her illuminated skin against mine.
Instantly, Jovie’s fingers reach for the buttons of my shirt, pulling apart the material with hasty tugs at the fabric, and I realize she must have seen the thought in my mind through the Bond.
Our kissing turns biting, hands working in tandem to take off each other’s clothes, mouths separating just long enough to get the material of her shirt over her head.
I wrap an arm around her middle and a pleased moan escapes her mouth when I pull her body flush to mine.
The feeling of her body pressing flat against my bare chest seems to be her final undoing.
Mine, when her hands shove insistently at the waistline of my pants.
I reach between us to free myself, wanting to end the prolonged and agonizing suffering we’ve endured, when a voice comes from below.
“Well, what do we have here?”
Jovie and I both freeze, eyes wide as we realize we aren’t alone, that Messer is here, having returned from his second visit to see Kai.
“This is an interesting development,” he says, smugness evident in his tone of voice.
I sit back on my haunches and look over my shoulder at the shifter below. “You’re back early.”
Messer stands with a hip cocked against the bottom banister; a smirk firmly planted on his face. “I can come back later. How long do you need, Ace? Three minutes? Four, tops?”
Gritting my teeth, I return my gaze on Jovie as she pulls the front of her shirt closed, the light fading from her eyes … quite literally.
“Messer,” she warns, exasperated.
His responding chuckle grates on my nerves, and I think of the multitude of ways I could murder her friend.
She shakes her head at my internal musing as she begins to re-button her shirt.
Or rather, do up the buttons that are left attached.
I cuss at my painfully hard situation as I adjust myself. Fucking Messer.
But it’s the sudden spike of emotion coming through the tether that has my eyes focusing on Jovie as I try to shove my cock back into my pants.
Her gaze snaps up to meet mine, cheeks turning ruddy at having been caught watching me struggle.
She tries to cover it by scowling at me, but all it serves to do is bring a grin to my face.
“There’s no need to hide from me, Jovie. I can feel the want, hot in your veins,” I tell her, planting a hand beside her head once again. “Let me show you.”
I haven’t pushed my emotions through, knowing the last time I exposed my inner self to her was too overwhelming.
But, as I tilt her chin up with a finger to bring our mouths back together, I hold her gaze and silently ask for permission.
She’s skeptical at first, but nods her assent, and I let the flood of raging need funnel through the tether toward her.
Her responding gasp only adds fuel to the fire, and my eyes fall closed at the potent feeling of her lust mixing with mine.
She melts underneath me. It’s raw, reducing us to our basest level, and almost too much, with nothing aside from the two of us mattering. Inescapably honest in our truest form.
I angle her face to the side in a bid to swallow her moans whole.
The need to be inside of her is all-consuming, dangerously so as she once again reaches for the front of my pants, hand coasting along my hastily covered cock and I’m moments away from pulling myself out again when Messer’s voice interrupts us. Again.
I don’t fully comprehend what he’s said, and my voice comes out more like a growl when I snap, “What?”
“Listen, you can proceed with … all of this … as soon as I relay a message.” While his tone is teasing, there’s a serious note that has me listening intently. “I’m back early to warn you that Kai is also arriving early.”
“How early?” I ask, eyes soaking in the beautiful blush on Jovie’s cheeks as it mixes with the soft glow of her magic.
“Tomorrow,” he says.
Mother. Fucker.
His words are instantly effective at cooling my blood and dimming Jovie’s light, her face falling at the realization we don’t have days before Kai’s arrival, but mere hours. I don’t want to read too much into her trepidation, but it’s unmistakable through the Bond.
Messer’s voice echoes back to us as he moves further down the corridor. “What’s with the beef stew everywhere?”