He sweeps me into a kiss before I can even finish the thought. Leans into me and takes me by the waist so my back is gently pressed into the closed door.
And then, just as quickly, he lets me go.
“I’m sorry.” He retreats a step, clears his throat. God, he’s handsome. “I’m sorry. I…”
I laugh a little. “You don’t have to be so…obsequious, Kingston. It’s just me.”
Except my heart is beating so hard.
He smiles. “I know.”
He stands there, at attention, Kingston Pendragon, straight and solemn, with his whites ready on a hanger and his mask and glove waiting on the desk and his blades lying across the hard brown cushions of the window seat.
Outside, snow drifts against gray.
A quiet night.
Welcome to the edge of the map.
“You should probably be sleeping,” I say softly.
Kingston shakes his head. “I don’t think so.”
He takes a step towards me.
“Are you sure?”
I take a step towards him.
“Gwenna, I don’t think I could sleep if I tried.”
One last step, and he cradles my face in his hands.
Kissing Kingston is good. He is a good, good kisser—far better than anyone with such a big gap in his kissing resume has any right to be. His mouth is warm and soft and easy on mine, and yet he stays steady, firm. Sure. Pressing further, deeper, a fraction of an inch at a time.
Not so he can stay in control. But so I don’t have to.
On a sharp intake of breath, he pulls my body to his.
“Gwenna,” he murmurs into my lips, into the hollow under my jaw, and I am wordless. For once. Blank, beautifully—all feeling, no thoughts.
I could die like this.
We’re moving across the floor—the backs of my knees hit something. The bed.Please,I think, all of me, all at once, and lower myself to the soft surface even as I’m pulling at him to be closer. I lie back as his broad hands skim under my sweater and up the sides of my ribcage, thumbs rolling over the bottom edge of my bra and then the swell of my breasts. The inhale he sucks through his teeth makes me clench deep, deep inside.
“God,” he says against my mouth. “I want all of you.”
I’m nodding, my fingers trembling as I run them through his hair, goosebumps skittering over my skin as he moves from my chest to my waist and his fingertips find the top edge of my tights.
Yes, my mind screams as he hooks under the elastic, eases it over and down, all while kissing me so deeply I feel dizzy.Yes.
“So take me,” I murmur, seizing the back of his neck and pulling him to me again. “Fuck me, Kingston.”
Above me, he stiffens.
Stops.
My eyes fly open, dread flooding me like cold water.
