Chapter 20
Chapter
Twenty
JOSEPHINE
“Well?” Ash drawls, lifting up onto one elbow with a lazy grin.
“Well, what?” I ask, still basking in the warmth shuttling between us.
“Did the forbidden Wildblood resonance live up to your anthropology theories?”
My finger traces his tattoo, feeling the press against my own collarbone.
He chuckles at my wonder, eyes flashing heat. Mind churning over what I’m feeling. Pure delight at this bond.
“It was alright,” I tease, chasing shimmers across his tattoos. Not so bold now, but still permeable, almost like I can feel through them.
“Just alright?” he says with a glorious stretch, smug-faced because he knows I’m still shaking.
“A decent start.” I fight the grin that captures my mouth. “Though I’ll have to collect more research. Really dig into the data before I can come to any conclusions.”
His chest vibrates with a soft growl. Both a warning and a promise. “I’ll help you come to a conclusion any time you like.”
I press my palm against his hot flesh, still so warm from the bond. Like me.
“Have to admit,” he says, eyes drifting to my breasts when I draw back the covers to let my body cool. “This is nothing like what they say.”
“How do you mean?” I ask, watching his head dip again, licking and sucking.
When my breath catches, pulse starting to climb behind my ribs, his eyes meet mine.
“The first Wildbloods warned of the resonance. Saw it as weakness and vulnerability. Avoided it like the plague.”
“Well, this is not that.”
“Nope.”
His hand slides through my hair, gently untangling the damp curls. “I like how your hair changes in the rain. Thought it was straight before.”
“That’s because I use a straightening iron.”
“A what?” He scrunches his nose.
“For an ancient man, you still have a lot to learn.”
His mouth drops to mine, murmuring against my mouth. “For a twenty-something, you have a lot to teach me.”
His hand comes up, sliding over the hollow where my waist meets my hip.
“Oh, don’t touch there,” I say too fast, trying to pull away. But his hand grips tighter.
“Shame. Insecurity. That’s what I felt.” His eyes narrow. “Tell me why.”
“Because…” I try to mince words, realizing emotions are already bleeding through. That actually this could be—
“Frustrating? Complicated?” He waggles an eyebrow.
“Don’t do that,” I scold, pulling the covers up.
Disappointment surges through me, dull and achy. Then, regret.
I lower the blankets.
He lowers his voice. “Gonna take a while getting used to being around you, Josephine. Choosing my thoughts and my words. But you’re beautiful. Stunning.”
My shoulders relax, feeling the ardent hum. Then, unease ripples through me. He doesn’t say a word. Just watches my mouth instead, waiting for the words. “I just feel more naked than I’ve ever felt before.”
“Me, too,” he admits, flipping onto his stomach and resting his chin on his folded hands. “Wildblood pairs learn to build walls. Otherwise, emotions bleed until both minds drown.”
“Walls?” My mind wanders to anomalous images carved in stone. Of spirals and lines. Rays that break and divide.
He leans closer, his finger tracing the line of my jaw. “Back to work already?”
I chuckle, sinking into the exposure. Surrendering. Observing. “How’d you know?”
“I felt you go serious. The way I imagined you felt when I watched you work.”
“You should know,” I quip.
He nods, slow and easy. “You studying rocks. Me studying you.”
Yearning floods me. “What is that?” I ask, trying to tangle who it comes from.
“How I felt watching you.”
“Wow, you showed a lot of… restraint.”
“You have no idea,” he huffs a laugh.
“And before when I was a young girl?” My face stiffens, thoughts tangling.
But then, it washes over me. Soft and pure. A protector without ulterior motives. A family friend. That’s all. Sometimes annoyed by too many squeals or a prank. But happy to watch his friend’s family grow.
“Good,” I sigh.
He nods, jaw firm. “But when you showed up in your little silver GTI?”
A shiver threads down my spine, goose bumps rising on my arms. Then, pain.
“My God. No wonder you didn’t want to come to dinner.”
“I couldn’t stay away.” He looks down, emotions muddying before clarity—devotion. “I didn’t think it was real till it smacked me upside the head.”
“And is it worth it?” I ask softly.
His voice throbs raw and rich. “For me, yes. I hope you’ll feel the same way.”
“Already do,” I grin, leaning forward to taste him again.
We kiss until we have to breathe, then stare at each other for a long moment. Lost in the quiet spaces of each other.
“Now tell me about what you were thinking about. Your work stuff. Couldn’t ask before. Didn’t want to act too interested. But it fascinates me.”
I smile, knowing now. “It’s just some of the symbols I’ve been studying. What if they described this?” I motion between us. “This state of being… together?”
“This synchronicity?”
My cheeks darken. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re picking up on my vocabulary, too.”
He chuckles. “I’m smarter than you think.” He winks. “But dumb, old rancher seemed better for us before.”
“Don’t tell me you’re one of those I-know-the-secrets-of-the-universe guys,” I tease.
He arches an eyebrow. “That what you want?”
I shake my head. “Too boring. I need someone to discover things with.”
“Oh, we have plenty to discover together.”
I reach forward, running a hand over the sweep of his broad shoulders down to his back. Then, I drag my fingernails softly back up.
I feel his sigh before I hear it. “Oh, you like that.”
“Yes,” he murmurs, eyes closing. I run my fingernails over him again, until my body shivers.
“This is never going to get old, you know.”
He lifts his head, opening one eye. “Nope, longest honeymoon the world’s ever seen.”
“Honeymoon? That means marriage, Ash. Are you proposing?”
“Don’t know if we could get any closer,” he hedges, though I feel it to the core of him: earnest commitment.
“So.” I let out a puff of air.
“Yes?”
“You ever been to another planet?”
He shakes his head. “Earthbound alien.”
“Wait, what does that make you?” I ask, staring up at the rough-hewn cabin’s ceiling. “A terrestrial-extraterrestrial?”
He shakes his head.
“Ever been in a spaceship?”
“Hell, Josephine, I spend more time in the saddle than a car. And cell phones… I’m still working those out.”
“You’re definitely not what I was expecting.”
“You weren’t expecting me at all,” he counters, burying his head at the nape of my neck. “A man ready to worship the hell out of you. That enough?” His voice is dark silk, his mind washing over mine, slow and sensual.
“Do you think...” I pant. “You could give me an orgasm just by feeling it?”
My pulse spikes. Heat curling low.
“Oh.”
“Oh?” he asks darkly.
“And all these years you were celibate? Seventy-three—”
Before I can even finish, he answers, “Yes, and it was worth the wait. I’d wait a thousand years for you.”
“Probably could, by the looks of Mags.”
He shakes his head. “More like one-fifty, two hundred.”
“Before the bond.” My chest tightens, bittersweet.
His rough palm glides over my chest to my heart. “That’s worth it, too.”
My vision clouds, and he pulls me close, snuggling me against his chest where his heart beats.
“You cold, yet?” he asks. Steam still sizzles from his skin.
“Why does my breath come out like a puff of white in here and yours doesn’t?”
He shrugs.
“Do you think your anatomy’s human on the inside?” I ask, pressing my ear against his chest. Hearing the strong beat of his heart.
“Great. Less than twenty-four hours, and you’re ready to dissect me,” he grumbles.
I giggle, looking up and socking him lightly on the shoulder. “No, silly. But I’m trying to figure out how this works. How we work.”
“Of course you are.”
That’s when I hear it. A tiny hum, like a whine.
Ash stills.
“What is that?” I whisper.
His face goes hard, finger pressed to his lips.
“Almost like an insect. But too mechanical.”
He nods.
I feel curiosity. Apprehension. Then, something unsettling, like my stomach knotting.
“Ash?”
My throat tightens. Then, my eyes follow his, catching motion near the window.
“Oh my God.”
That’s when it breaks all at once.
A wave of fear like I’ve never experienced.