I leaned into him and tucked my face under his jaw. He was warm and solid and smelled like sawdust and rain and Kazan. His arm tightened around me, careful but sure.
His thumb moved over the scarf again, stroking the silk where it rested against my collarbone. It felt reverent. Like he wanted to touch me and had decided the scarf was the only safe place to put all that want.
I lifted my head.
He looked at my mouth.
“Kazan,” I said.
His breath changed.
That was all the warning I had before he met me halfway.
The kiss was soft. Careful. Too careful, maybe, but I understood why. The audit was still there. All the rules and risks hadn’t vanished just because he’d built me a way to town and tied silk around my throat.
But his mouth was warm on mine, and his arms were around me, and for once I didn’t feel trapped by being held.
I felt safe.
I kissed him again, just a little harder.
He made a rough sound and went completely still beneath me, like moving too fast might ruin everything.
It didn’t.
Nothing hurt.
Not here with him. He would never hurt me.
11
KAZAN
The kiss didn't staya thank-you.
It started that way. Soft. Careful. The kind of kiss she could pretend was gratitude if anyone asked.
Then her hand fisted in my shirt, and she opened her mouth under mine.
That was the end of careful.
I should have stopped. The audit was soon, and my scent on her was one of the few things that could ruin everything. She needed to smell like a woman who'd been living alone in my house. Not like she'd been pressed against me in a barn with my hands under her clothes and my mouth on her throat.
That was a sensible thought.
I ignored it.
The barn doors were half open, and the orchard dripped quietly outside with the aftermath of the storm.
For now, there was no one here but us.
For now, I could have this.
She pulled back just enough to breathe, her cheeks flushed and her eyes dark. Sawdust clung to one side of her hair, and I had the insane thought that I wanted to brush it out and then mess her up all over again.
“I came out here to tell you I didn’t want noble,” she said.
My hands tightened on her waist.
