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937 Words
Finally she was spent and collapsed back against the mattress, panting, delirious.
Her eyes drifted open. Christian was staring down at her in fierce intensity. “Beautiful,” he whispered, pressing the softest of kisses to her lips. “You are so beautiful, Ember.”
The he withdrew his hand from between her legs, lifted it to his face, put two fingers in his mouth and sucked them, licking off her arousal.
He did it slowly, with his gaze locked on hers, and it was the sexiest, most carnal thing she’d ever seen.
Then he took those same two fingers and pressed them against her lips. She opened her mouth and took them in, tasting herself—salt and tangy wetness—sucking just as he’d done, their eyes still locked together. There was heat and animal passion in his eyes, a dangerous light. When he withdrew his fingers he replaced them with his tongue, and the kiss they shared was wild, hungry, and desperate, a promise of things to come.
He broke away first. He sat up and set her on her shaking legs, gave her a little push toward the door.
“Go on,” he said, his voice husky. “Go on and talk to your friend before I lose complete control of myself.”
Stunned and breathless, barely functioning, Ember nodded, smoothed her hands over her hair, inhaled and exhaled carefully, and went to the door. Without looking back at Christian, she turned the knob and walked through the door, closing it firmly behind her. Still trembling, she leaned against it.
On the sofa in the living room, Asher sat with his arms crossed over his chest. When he caught sight of her face, he rolled his eyes and drawled, “Well, I guess that fight’s been won.”
But Ember, heart pounding, body aflame, had a feeling the real fight was just about to begin.
Whether she liked it or not, she was falling in love with this man who was not a man, and she had to decide what she was going to do about it.
Christian sat on the edge of the bed looking down at his hands, surprised to see them trembling.
Her response to him had been totally unexpected, natural and abandoned, a sensual reaction that had the animal inside him roaring in pleasure. It took every ounce of willpower he’d had to set her away from him, but he did it because he knew she wasn’t ready yet.
Her body was, but her mind was another matter.
He wondered where her heart weighed in on all this.
He blew out a hard breath and stood, ignoring the sound of the words Ember and Asher were exchanging behind the closed bedroom door. He’d practiced for years to master the ability to block things out at will, a necessary skill without which his acute senses would overload his brain to drowning. His brain was already overloaded enough, thank you very much—and he suspected it would only take the tiniest bit of coaxing to push him right over the edge into madness.
For example, if she came back through the door and kissed him again.
Her mouth was so sweet, her scent and small, restless moans even sweeter, the way she looked at him…the way she tasted. Christ, the way she tasted. He’d been dreaming about it for weeks, and the reality was so much better than even his best fantasies it didn’t seem possible.
He put his head in his hands, thought for a moment, then did the only thing he could do:
He left.
He wrote her a short note that he left on the pillow they’d shared, crossed to the window, and cracked open the panes. Looking up at the winking stars, feeling the cold salt air bracing his face, he closed his eyes and let the magic of the Shift rise to a glittering peak within him. Then, silently and all at once, he turned to Vapor.
His linen trousers slid to the floor and lay in an ivory pile, leaking air while he rose in a slinking thin plume and pushed through the crack of the window, out into the night.
Asher didn’t look entirely convinced by Ember’s explanation of what was going on with her and Christian.
She’d had to leave out the most important parts of the last week, of course, because she wasn’t going to reveal to another soul what exactly Christian was. Even if she ultimately decided she couldn’t be with him, his secret was safe with her.
“Secret?” said Asher sharply.
Ember realized she’d drifted off into her own little world for a moment and had been muttering aloud. His voice brought her back to reality with an unpleasant thud.
“What? Oh, sorry…nothing…my brain…I’m just so tired.”
Asher’s twisted lips and c****d eyebrow indicated he thought about as much as this lame excuse as she did. He made a noncommittal, “Mmm hmm.”
She blew out a shaky breath and shook her head. “You know, Ash, I love you for worrying about me, but this is just something I’ve got to get through myself.”
Asher’s gaze flickered to the door behind her. His look soured.
“He’s not going to do anything to hurt me.” Ember realized as she said it she wasn’t just saying it to convince Asher not to hurl the cleaver he still had in his hand at the back of the door; she actually believed it. Which was both a surprising revelation, and a huge relief.
- Writer
