Page 497 of Coal Hearts

It’d been one of the worst days of my life.

Yet...it was over.

It no longer existed.

But he existed.

I existed.

And we would never have this moment again.

I trembled as I reached out and plucked the book from his frozen fingers.

I didn’t bother looking at the title.

I merely closed it reverently, turned off the booklight, and placed both on my abandoned pillow.

“W-What are you doing?” He croaked in the darkness.

I could barely make out his face. The glow of his uncertain eyes.

The flashing red dots of cameras watched us.

Could they record in pitch blackness?

I hoped not.

Because what I was about to do probably hadn’t been done by any other jewel in the two decades this place had existed.

“Seeing you reading?” My voice came out sultry, husky. Coals simmered in my heart. Embers kindled in my blood. Flames grew hotter, greedier.

Pulling the blanket off his thighs, the faint gleam of his skin appeared. His stomach flexed as I uncovered him. The dark patch of trimmed hair between his legs. And the rapidly swelling erection crawling up his belly. “It’s one of the hottest things I’ve ever seen.”

He coughed and reached for the blankets.

I ripped them to his knees, leaving him as bare as me.

A growl rumbled in his chest. “Nightmare, stop it.”

I shuddered at his nickname for me.

I smirked as I remembered mine for him.

“I need you, Hen.”

“Don’t.” He shook his head. “Don’t call me that.”

With a pounding heart and racing desire, I crawled over him and sat on his lap.

He jerked and looked at the ceiling. “For the love of God, get off me.”

“Nope.” Nuzzling his throat, I sucked in his scent.

He smelled off.

Antiseptic with the faintest whiff of stone.

The white slash of a bandage on his arm hinted he’d returned to the doctor. Had he also patrolled the stronghold on his own? I sniffed again, dragging in the softer smells of soap and the wilder notes of sea and stars.