He practically rolled his eyes at her, and then suddenly, he was behind her, his large body hot and imposing at her back.
Then he wrapped his large hands around hers. One gripping the hand that held the ferro rod, and angling it just so, and the other grabbing hold of her hand with the knife.
“Hey,” she said, resisting his direction of her movements.
“Let me show you,” he whispered, his mouth much closer to her ear than she had realized.
Tension and pleasure skittered down her spine hand in hand.
She was so shocked that then she just… Let him. Let him guide her hand holding a knife down the rod she had in her other hand. There was still nothing.
“You’re resisting,” he said.
“Well, you might cut me.”
“I’m not going to cut you. I know what I’m doing.”
She felt hot and a little bit sweaty.
She didn’t know why. She didn’t know why this was doing so much to her. The absolute most, honestly.
But she tried her best to relax, and this time, when he struck the knife against the edge of the rod and pulled it down, she felt the friction. Felt the difference. The angle combined with the force worked, and sparks flew from the edge of the rod.
“Oh,” she said. “Oh, I felt that.”
“Good,” he said, his voice rough and gruff, and he took a step away from her. “Now you can do it yourself.”
Her heart was pounding so hard now that she felt dizzy, and she wasn’t quite sure why. But she decided that she would try it, regardless of how fast her heart was beating.
So she did it again, and this time, produced sparks on her own.
She turned to look at him and smiled. He was not looking at her. He had his hands on his hips, and he was looking away, muttering something.
“Zane? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Start your goddamn fire.”
When his eyes clashed with hers, there was something in them, a kind of fury that felt hot, and it scalded her down to her toes. But she was the one who was trying to start a fire, not him, so she couldn’t count on any sparks and his eyes to get things going.
She knelt down in front of the fire and began to strike the rod again. This time, she was producing sparks effortlessly.
Right into her tinder.
Pretty soon, she had it smoldering, and a few moments later, she had an actual flame.
“I did it!”
“You did,” he said.
But she felt like he wasn’t really watching.
“Now you have to tell me a book.”
“What?”
“You promised. You promised me a book title if I started the fire, and I started the fire. So now you have to tell me.”
“Oh, for God’s sake,” he said. “Artemis Fowl.”
