She blinked. “You’re not stupid.”
“Yeah,” he said, voice cracking, “I am. Because I always assumed we’d have time. I always thought we’d be together—that it would just… happen someday. But when I saw Geoff kiss you—when I thought I’d lost you—I realized I might not have someday. And that scared me more than anything.”
Her eyes filled again.
“I know we’re young. And I know things change. But Alice…” He swallowed hard. “I’ve loved you for as long as I can remember. I just didn’t want to mess it up before I even had the chance to tell you.”
Alice let out a shaky breath.
“I needed to hear that,” she whispered.
His thumb brushed her cheek. “No more wondering.”
Then, he leaned in.
Their lips met in a kiss that was soft, searching, and filled with promise—warm and a little uncertain, like a flame catching for the first time. With a sense of wonder. Of hope. Of something real.
As they pulled apart, her forehead rested against his. His dragon, deep inside, sighed in contentment.
Bálint looked at her—not at the glow of her aura, but her. The girl who challenged him. Softened him. The girl who would one day be a fierce, brilliant woman.
And he vowed, silently and fiercely, that he would never take her for granted again.
They sat there in silence, fingers twined together, looking up as the stars danced overhead.
Glad we no roast the other boy—or ourselves, his dragon sighed.
Yeah. Me, too, my friend. Me, too.
Coming Next:
The Trouble with Giants…
Spring Reykill has had enough of boys. Nursing a bruised spirit, the last person she wants to be stuck in an unfamiliar world with is Roam d’Rojah. She would rather face an isle of giants than have to put up with a clueless Sarafin cat-shifter.
Roam d’Rojah doesn’t know what he’s done to upset Spring, but he’s determined to protect her—even if it means getting his tail singed a few times and buried up to his neck.
Lost far from home, Spring and Roam must find common ground if they are to find their friends and a way back to their family. Can they bury the hatchet before Spring buries Roam—or worse, they discover that giants are the least of their worries?
Part VI
The Trouble with Giants
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Spring stirred, disorientation sweeping over her. A dull ache throbbed behind her eyes. Her head rested against something warm and solid—firm muscle beneath the soft brush of cotton. The familiar scent of masculine cologne, moss, and boy-sweat invaded her senses.
Roam.
She jolted awake, her eyes snapping open in alarm. She would know his scent anywhere in the galaxy! What she didn’t recognize was the collage of scents from the surrounding terrain. It wasn’t the Valdier garden they had left behind.
Spring stiffened when she realized that Roam had one arm wrapped protectively around her, his cheek pressed against her hair, his other hand still resting on the curve of her waist like she belonged to him.
Like she mattered.
Fury surged through her.
Fat chance of that!
