“Fuck!” I gasped. I doubled over as I struggled to inhale a full breath.
She did a double take over her shoulder, then whirled to face me. “What did I tell you about sneaking up on women in the dark, Jeremiah?” she demanded. She gave my shoulder a not-very-gentle shove. “What. Did. I. Tell. You.”
“Bad,” I wheezed.
“That’s right.Bad. The opposite of good. And now look at yourself.”
Why would I look at myself when I could look at her? So I stared at her while I tried to catch my breath. She shook her head as if she were disappointed in me. Her diamond earring sparkled in the flicker of the fake-flame lamps that hung on either side of the door.
She planted her fists on her hips. “What do you have to say for yourself?”
I held up a finger to indicate that I still needed amoment. She waited. I straightened and bent to the side, stretching out the kink in my ribs from her damned elbow.
“Well?” she demanded.
“You’re missing an earring,” I said.
She blinked at me like it took her a moment to comprehend the words, and then her hands flew to her earlobes to verify. Her face fell. “Shit.” She looked at her feet as if she expected to find her earring there. It wasn’t. “Shit.”
“Expensive?” I asked.
“Yeah.” She squeezed her eyes shut, sighing. “What was I thinking wearing them out here? But I never take them off.” Her eyes popped open. “It must have happened during Blood Ball.” She groaned. “I’ll never find it.”
“I’ll take a look tomorrow.”
She laughed. “For a tiny diamond in a field? Okay. Good luck.”
I rubbed my jaw and shrugged. “I’m pretty good at finding things.”
People, mostly. Information, too. That was what I had done in my prior life. Search and rescue operations for people we couldn’t afford to lose. I had to bite back the urge to tell her that I had a one hundred percent success rate. What the hell was that about? Bragging had always made me uncomfortable. What did I care about impressing Lennon?
But I did care.
“What are you doing out here, Lennon?” I asked.
“Getting some air. Looking for stars. Alas.” She gestured to the dark, cloudy sky. “What about you?”
“Same. Air. Stars.”
Her head tilted as she considered me. “I don’t think so.”
“You don’t?”
“No.” She shook her head. “You’re always around. Keeping me warm. Scaring off assholes. Protecting me in games I have no business playing. So, no, Jeremiah. I don’t think you’re out here counting stars. I think you’re here for me.” She swayed closer. Her eyes moved over my face. “Are you going to deny that?”
I shook my head. My heart thumped so hard in my chest I wondered if she could feel the vibrations of it like an earthquake.
She rolled up on her toes. Pressed her lips to mine. The world stilled. It was a shock, her soft, warm mouth. The closeness. Thefeel. She pulled back before I had fully recovered from it.
I gave her an incredulous look as she rolled back down.
Like hell.
I followed her down until my mouth found hers again. My right hand cupped the back of her head, my left arm banded around her waist, and I bent her back,keeping our bodies tight together. She flung her arms around my neck and fuckingsmiledagainst my mouth.
“Finally,” she murmured.
That was all I needed to lick my way in. And there was that thirst again, crackling through my veins like wildfire, burning everything in its wake—reason, sanity, morality—until all that was left of me was this thirst.
