Page 100 of Heart of Mischief

She hadn’t known the words were going to come out, but now she wanted to hear him say it,neededto.

Elias tilted his head. “Admit what?”

“Your emotions.” Her chest rose and fell.Godsshe was nervous.It felt as if everything was riding on this moment. On what happened next. “They’re back. You can feel again.”

Elias’s face, which had been unusually open all night, shuttered at once: brows dropping, eyes flattening, lips pressing into a tight line. His head dropped and he started to turn away. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t.” She reached out and grabbed his wrist, yanking him back to face her. She knew she didn’t need to be delicate—not with him. His eyes flew back to hers, widening with surprise at the ferocity of her response. “Don’t pretend the last few days have meant nothing to you. That you aren’t different now. Don’t pretend that when you look at me, you feelnothing, not even—”

Elias lunged.

His hands grabbed her face. His lips crashed into hers, claiming her mouth in a heady mixture of skin and desire. Her response was immediate, arms shooting up and twining around his neck and the back of his head. She threw one leg up and over Elias’s hips, pulling him in as close as she could. He groaned, a small sound of surprise and pleasure that filled her with immense satisfaction.

But the surprise didn’t last long. He dove eagerly back into the kiss, deepening it, exploring her mouth with his. His hands released her face, dropping to her thighs and pulling her up and around him. Once he had a firm grip on her body, he started to move, backing her up into the nearest tree. The bark dug into her wet clothes.

“Fine,” he said at last, breaking away just enough to speak against her mouth. His voice was low and scratchy. “You’re right. I can feel again. Why do you need to hear me say it?”

“Because I do.” Her hands slid down his spine and back up again, sending a shiver through his warm body. “Because I need to know that I can trust you. That you’re really here with me.”

He exhaled, his breath ghosting along her jaw. Instead of answering immediately, his head angled down, lips pressing a soft kiss to her collarbone. Her head fell backward, eyes fluttering shut.

“I’m here with you, Charlie,” he whispered against her skin. “I’m here, and I’m not leaving anytime soon.”

He kissed the base of her neck, then a bit higher, then higher still. His last words were spoken against the skin between her neck and jaw. “I’m yours to command for however long you’ll have me.”

A sound like a strangled groan came from the back of her throat.

She was starving for him. She would stay in this clearing all night if she could.

“Charlie?”

Abigail’s voice yanked Charlie from her lust-filled high like a tooth being pulled without anything to numb the pain. She unlocked her legs and shoved Elias away so quickly you’d think his skin was made of hot coals. Her body dropped roughly to the ground, causing her to stumble and nearly twist her ankle. She wiped her lips with the back of her hand, as if it would somehow hide the evidence of what she’d done.

She stood, chest heaving, and stared guiltily at the people who had discovered them: Abigail, Lou, and—to Charlie’s ever-deepening humiliation—Mason. All standing, frozen, between two pine trees a few feet away.

She expected Mason to be the one to tear into her, but he didn’t look angry. He looked… stunned. Maybe it was the alcohol. He was looking between Charlie and Elias like they were a riddle he couldn’t quite put together.

Instead, it was Abigail who stomped forward. “Iknewit,” she spat. “I knew this was going to happen.”

“Abigail.” Charlie held up her hands. “It’s not what you think—”

“Not what Ithink?” she screeched. “I don’tthinkanything. I saw it with my own two eyes.”

Charlie tried again. “Listen—”

“No,youlisten,” said Abigail, jabbing one finger into Charlie’s chest. “You’ve completely lost it. This guy tried to murder us—literallyevery single one of us—and you’re over here sucking his face?You ignore all logic and forgive him for the awful things he’s done because of some stupid crush? I thought you were smarter than that.”

“It’s not about a crush. I’m just drunk.” This was a lie; she was tipsy at the most. “Elias is drunk.? And we’re obviously attracted to each other. So. We were…” She searched for the right words. “This doesn’t mean anything. This was just… just a drunken mistake. Right, Elias?” She looked to him for confirmation.

What she found on Elias’s face wasn’t confirmation. It wasn’t vigorous nodding or lewd jokes to deflect the tension, as she’d hoped. It was something quite different: a mixture of shock and confusion, as if he couldn’t quite process what was happening.

All at once, the shock dropped off Elias’s face. In its place: dark emptiness. For a second, Charlie thought she saw shadows actually begin to gather around his body, but it must have been a trick of the moonlight.

“Right,” he said flatly. “Just a drunken mistake.”

An invisible knife twisted in Charlie’s chest.

Elias turned away. A strange stiffness gripped his body, as if someone had injected ice straight into his spine. His jaw was clenched tight. Below his cheek, a muscle twitched.