I had never seen him lose his temper, not before that moment. His dark eyes looked almost black, his brows furrowed. I could see his chest rise and fall with every breath he made. Another thought crossed my mind. I was not afraid of him, not now, not ever. I trusted him with my life. I only jumped because I knew no matter what happened, he would be there to catch me on the other side.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“You almost died!”
“I thought I could do it,” I said, wanting more than anything to touch his face.
Instead of answering, Tynan wrapped his fist around my braid and pulled it hard.
“You. Will never. Do that. Again,” he said slowly.
“I have to train.” I stared at his fist holding my hair, hypnotized.
His gaze was burning through me when he lowered his face to mine. “I said... You will never do that again. Do you understand?” His tone was hard.
Instead of being intimidated by him, another feeling rose to the surface, threatening to overpower me all at once.
“No.” I lifted up my chin.
“No?” He cocked his head looking infuriated.
“I am going to figure it out without asking for permission from you, or anyone else.” My hands landed on his torso.
“There are other ways to figure it out,” Tynan growled.
With all my strength, I pinned him against the rock behind us, pushing my hands against his hard chest. The last thing I saw was the astonishment in his dark eyes when I pressed my lips to his. I kissed him slowly, savoring every moment. His lips were so incredibly soft. His scent of leather and smoke overloaded my senses and my head nearly exploded. I closed my eyes, feeling so lost, yet, powerful at the same time. My hands on his cheeks, the warmth of his skin, the taste of black tea on his lips. My fingers found his soft, silky hair and I could have sworn that I saw stars. The world ignited and sparkled with millions of lights. At that moment, I had become who I always was meant to be: strong, passionate, and fearless.
My skin burned with anticipation and desire. More than anything I wanted him to respond to my kiss. But themoment of bliss was over. I moved away, dying to see his face, before my courage completely left me.
His beautiful eyes were opened wide, his lips parted, cheeks flushed.
“There. Figure that out.” I exhaled, trying to catch my breath before walking past him toward the house.
I did not see Tynan for the next couple of days. My mind would not stop returning to the scene by the foot of the mountain. I kissed him. I pressed my lips to his mouth, greedily, unapologetically, taking from him and giving back. But still, I wanted more. I wanted him to respond to that kiss. I thought if I took the extra step, if I made my feelings clear, there would not be any barriers between us. But something went horribly wrong. As it turned out, I missed some crucial detail, I miscalculated. Tynan did not come back, he was avoiding me. No matter how hard I tried, I did not know how to stop the horrifying emptiness, and all that pain took refuge in my heart.
Was it possible that he liked me, but not enough to actually be with me? Yes, it was certainly possible.
The simplicity of the answer tore my heart to pieces, and I did not know what to do to change that.
Hardly realizing what I was doing, I returned to thekitchen. I was too restless to stay still, and for the last few days, I had been cleaning the rooms, doing laundry, and endlessly scolding myself for being so deeply unhappy.
On one of those days, Frid joined me outside while I was hanging wet clothes on the drying rack. She stood for a long moment watching my frustrated moves as I twisted the towels and dropped them into a clean bucket.
“I don't know what’s going on between you two,” she started, carefully.
“Why do you think anything is going on?” I responded.
“Please. . . I have eyes.” She smirked, but I looked unimpressed, so she abruptly stopped and cleared her throat. “Tynan is difficult,” she added.
“Yes.” I turned away.
“He really likes you, I can tell you that.”
I sighed, not trusting myself to respond.
“Look, I don’t know what’s going on in his head, but he cares about you.” Frid looked at me earnestly.
“Why are you doing this?”
