Chapter Twenty-Three Tangled in Smoke #2
Adan threw her hands up in the air in defeat. Nox managed to scope up her small hands and he yanked Adan closer. She couldn't help the gasp that left her mouth, and his thumb rubbed pointedly into her skin. "You're welcome, Adan." The deep timbre of his voice radiated in her very bones.
He so rarely called her by her name. It was always Love or Princess.
Never Adan. Of course, that was his intention--To force her off balance, it made her realize how unsteady she was around him.
How he kept her on her toes. His eyes seemed to sparkle.
Those magnificent pale green eyes stared at her, now only inches away from her face.
They had danced around each other for months, and now she could not help her eyes dropping from his perfect sparkling eyes to his full lush mouth. Nox watch her curl her lower lip, her teeth biting down. All thoughts ebbed out of his head.
Someone behind them cleared their throat. Adan ripped her hands away from Nox. As if she had been burned and took a step back.
"Glad you're doing better." Ren said softly from the frame of the door.
Adan took that opening to head for the exit. "Not so fast, love." Nox moved, swinging his feet off the bed. His leathers still clung to his legs, and with his chest bare, it had an intense effect on Adan.
She had to get out of this room.
He stood with grace and was inches from her in no time. "We need to talk about what comes next."
"Without Thammas, Aster... Czandra, Asha...?" She side stepped, only to give herself room from Nox's proximity.
Ren watched it all in silence, until, "Their on their way back now."
Adan looked from Ren, towards Nox, her head tilting back now that he was a breath away from her chest. "You're feeling better then?" Adan swallowed.
Nox watched her slim neck contract, She was nervous and Nox couldn't help but grin wider.
Just because she was off kilter, he dropped his head so that his mouth just brushed the arch of her ear.
He spoke just loud enough for her to hear.
"I can think of a few ways you could make me feel better, love."
Adan's breath hitched, her body stiffening as the warmth of his breath brushed against her ear.
The tension in the room thickened, coiling around them like the chain of a noose.
Her pulse quickened, but she didn't step back.
She couldn't. There was something magnetic about his presence, a pull that was impossible to resist.
She glanced quickly at Ren to find him already gone. Adan wanted nothing more than to shiver as the hair on her arms rose, and her skin burn in the most delicious way.
His finger lifted to her chin, to drag her attention back to him.
Her pulse fluttered at the way he looked at her, that predatory intensity in his eyes that always made her feel like he was reading the very core of her being.
Adan swallowed hard, forcing herself to speak. "Nox..." She trailed off, trying to gather her thoughts, but it was harder than she expected.
He's going to be the death of me.
"When all this is all over. We will do every last one of them. Every single thought that has invaded and berated my mind since you have entered my life. Every last depraved thought that haunts me day and night. I will have you, Inara Fuere."
Adan's throat tightened at the way he said her true name, and she found herself at a loss for words.
His fingers traced up her neck and delved into her hair at the nape. He pulled with perfect accuracy, it had Adan relenting to his dominance. She leaned into him, and she couldn't stop her mouth parting on a sigh as his head dipped over hers. "Then, and only then, will I be better."
Her mind raced over everything he had said, but only one thing truly caught her attention. "Will this ever be over?" He knew she meant the war raging outside, not the intense attraction that raged in his heart. She had possessed him body and mind, and he doubted that would ever be over.
"I can't have my focus split. And you, princess, are distracting as fuck."
His free hand spanned the length of her lower back as he held her close.
His piercing green eyes grew tender and his hand loosened his grip on her hair, It slipped back to her neck.
His thumb brushed her cheek tenderly. Adan didn't flinch away, even if he was touching her tattoo.
All it would take would be for Adan to extend onto her toes, and their lips would meet.
"We can't afford to get distracted right now. We have to focus on what's ahead. On what we're fighting for."
Nox's smouldering eyes dropped to her mouth. Adan couldn't argue with his logic. He had been working towards stopping Cias for about than two centuries. She understood his vendetta— better than anyone.
This man was all about the long game, and he played it well.
Adan would never get in the way of his vengeance.
She sighed again, and closed her eyes for a moment, if only to luxuriate in the feel of his touch.
"But even the most focused warriors need something to ground them. Something to hold on to when everything else is falling apart."
The space between them felt impossibly small, and her heart was pounding in her chest, betraying her calm exterior. She wanted to step back, wanted to put distance between them, but the temptation was overwhelming.
For a long moment, neither of them spoke, just standing there, locked in a gaze that felt like it could unravel everything they both were trying to hold on to.
"Fuck it." His hand on her neck tightened with possession.
Nox dropped his head just as Adan's mismatched eyes fluttered closed again as their lips crashed together.
It was a claiming. Nox pulled Adan impossibly closer, so their bodies became flush.
Adan let her self sigh into his mouth as she gave herself over to him.
She wrapped her arms around him, unable to resist his pull anymore.
She was tired of fighting it, so she let her impossibly tall walls fall.
The kiss was fierce, hungry, as if they both needed it to breathe, to exist at this moment of madness.
Her mouth opened wider in invitation, and Nox did not hesitate.
His tongue dove into her and danced with her own.
The feel of him against her was decadent —sinful.
Nox's hands gripped her tighter, his fingers slipping into her hair as he angled her head to deepen the kiss.
The heat between them seemed to sear through her skin, igniting every nerve as she pressed herself against him.
It shouldn't have come as a surprise to Adan that Nox was an excellent kisser.
He succeeded at everything else in his life.
His tongue swirled and danced in perfect rhythm with Adan's.
She could feel the tension in his body, the raw edge of desire, but there was something more, something that she knew went deeper than the war or the stakes they were caught in.
So much so that when he pulled away, she was left dazed. He studied her lazy smile and closed eyes as she swayed in his arms. The beautiful and strong butcher of the pits and legendary assassin was unencumbered in his strong capable hands.
He loved that he had that affect on her, and knew he would spend the rest of his life trying to recreate the moment again and again.
Nox's lips left hers only for a moment, just long enough to trail his mouth down her neck, his teeth grazing against her skin as he whispered against her pulse, "I've wanted this... for so long, love."
His voice was rough, hoarse, like he couldn't get enough of her, like he was unable to hold back any longer.
His lips found her ear again, his breath hot and steady as he whispered, "I wanted you."
She knew she should stop, knew they couldn't afford this, but every part of her wanted to be lost in him, in this fire that had been building between them.