Page 80 of Dance of Stars and Ashes

His hand dropped, once again finding the waistband of her pants, his fingertips hooking over the hem before his thumb swept along the plane of her stomach. Her lungs went tight as she exhaled.

“Yes,” he said with a sense of self-satisfaction. “That right there. That adorable little breath that tells me you feel it, too.”

Gods, could he be any more full of himself? She refused to admit it.

He leaned down and ran his nose along her throat. Her head tipped back as she let out another involuntary groan, and the fingers against her stomach dug in, sending a burst of heat exploding below her navel.

What did she want right now? To allow him to continue? A moment ago, she’d said she was done. But now, with his presence and her undeniable need, it was harder to be sure.

“I want to kiss you,” he said. “Tell me you want it, too.”

“Absolutely not.”

The smile on his face spread into a feral grin.

“Is that how it’s going to be, Spitfire?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Oh, very clever.”

Their eyes met, and it was everything she could do not to arch towards him. She wanted to kiss him, but she wouldn’t unless she could trust him first.

He leaned down, but she turned her head, and he stopped.

“Very well,” he said, stepping back as her suffocating lungs finally expanded with air. “But don’t think I’m done with you. I’ll see you soon.”

He smiled, revealing the point of one sharp canine before his tongue flicked over the tip. The action nearly made her entire brain seize in her skull. Then, he scanned her from head to toe before he turned to walk away.

She clung to the wall at her back, watching him leave, waiting for the pounding in her chest to settle. She wasn’t sure she could even walk right now.

When she finally got her bearings, she headed for the haveli and chugged up the stairs before she stripped out of her clothes and into her nightgown.

She paced the room for several minutes, replaying that moment with Rabin over and over. She couldn’t deny everything he made her feel, but he was going to destroy her. She didn’t know why she was so sure, but he’d already kicked her heart once, and she was determined not to let him do it again.

That had been too much. All of this was too much. She was spinning out. She didn’t know how to deal with all of these conflicting emotions or the complexities of these relationships she’d never had to navigate before.

As much as she’d hated living at the seaside cottage, at least things had been simple. The only people she had to please were Row and Aarav, and since she really didn’t care about pleasing either of them, it hadn’t mattered all that much.

She climbed between the crisp sheets, hoping to lose herself to the blissful embrace of slumber, but found herself tossing and turning for what felt like hours.

Eventually, she must have drifted off because she opened her eyes and cursed.

She lay in the grass in the dream forest as she groaned, “No, not tonight.”

Maybe he wasn’t here, but she was positive her luck wasn’t that good.

She pushed up, looked across the clearing, and huffed.

He stood with his arms folded, leaning against a tree, all bravado and confidence, half-naked like a fucking gift from the gods. Celestial light highlighted his brown skin, including the swells of his biceps and tapers of muscle that disappeared into the low-hanging waist of his loose black pants.

She groaned again as he smirked.

“I told you we weren’t done yet, Spitfire.”

“Did you bring us here tonight?” she asked, and he cocked his head.

“You know as well as I do we have no control over this.”

She tapered her gaze. “Oh, now you’re sure about that, are you?” She stumbled to her feet and added, “Well, I’m done.”