Page 61 of The Unseen Hour

He pulled me closer, until my face was an inch from his.

Falling for you.

True, he hadn’t confirmed it, but it was more than a strong hint. I’d told myself for years that if I got a chance at adventure, I would take it.

I reached up, letting my fingers trail across the stubble on his chin.

“If that is the case, do you intend to do anything about it?”

“Starlight. May I⁠—”

I crushed my lips against his before he could finish the question.

CHAPTER 28

Orion’s fingers tangled in my hair. His lips were full and soft against mine.

Instead of sating the desire in me, the kiss just fanned it into a flame. As the weeks had gone on, I’d found myself thinking more and more frequently of what it might be like to have Orion’s hands on me.

I reached out, wrapping one hand behind the back of his neck, pulling him closer. It still wasn’t enough.

Orion moved his attentions, kissing just below my jaw, then all the way down my neck. I gasped when he reached a particularly sensitive spot.

He pulled back, looking down at my hand. Then, he leaned and kissed each finger.

“I’ve been wanting to do that for weeks now,” he admitted.

“You’re not the only one.”

His kiss had awoken the increasingly familiar combination of heat and need between my thighs. It was the sort of longing a real lady would have ignored, if she’d had such a sensation to begin with.

I had no desire to do that.

The longer I spent with Ry, the more time I wanted to spend with him. We hadn’t had any discussions about what life would be like in Emrys if, and after, we’d accomplished what we’d set out to do.

Part of me had wondered if he was afraid to get his hopes up.

We’d certainly made no promises to one another, and I knew that the situation would be complicated for many reasons. His long absence, my own reappearance, Bellamy—although I had to believe he’d moved on after months of my absence—plus the potential that we’d have a very upset deity after us for ruining his hour.

“You’re frowning,” Orion observed. “Now, I’ll admit to being out of practice, but surely I can’t be that bad of a kisser?”

“I’ve never been kissed,” I said.

“Really?”

I shrugged.

“Keeping up with some sort of tryst, or becoming infatuated with someone I wasn’t engaged to … it would only have put me at risk of gossip.”

“I got the idea that didn’t bother you.”

“It doesn’t, but I never met someone worth the trouble.”

He smirked.

“What about now?”

I put a finger to my chin, pretending to think.