Page 123 of Tailwind

‘Fuck!’ His head fell forwards on to me, words failing him.

A thrilling tension was building between my legs and it had everything to do with the way his stiff crotch was grinding against my already dampening underwear.

I needed him. I had to feel him buckle at my touch. My hand went down between us. I hated the belt keeping him locked away. I wrapped my hand around him as much as I could, rushing with satisfaction as his legs trembled.

His hand joined mine, holding it for a moment before sliding up between my thighs. I shuddered as his fingertips brushed against me, barely keeping control.

‘I know you like to finish first, Lena,’ he teased, breathless. ‘But tonight I’m going to make sure you come second too … maybe third.’

I tightened my grip, using his own rhythm against him.

His moan rumbled into my throat.

‘I always hoped this would happen, but fuck, it took us so long.’ His mouth was soft against my neck, words smothered by desire. ‘I’m never letting you go.’

My eyes fluttered, coming out of their heavy lidded stupor.

His free arm had swept around to hold me as his kisses got deeper, slower.

A sinking pit opened in my gut. That wasn’t what I wanted … This was pleasure, nothing else. Something more wasn’t an option.

‘Theo …’ I placed my hands on his shoulders, letting my legs drop back down.

‘Mm?’ He hesitated, reluctant to come up for air.

‘Stop.’ My voice cracked as I said it.

He pulled away. In the dim I saw his lips part and his eyes search mine for understanding. His hands brushed over my waist, hovering with indecision.

‘You know I don’t—’ I grunted, cutting myself off. The leftover lust had nowhere to go, so spiked into anger. All his talk about knowing me more than anyone else, about knowing what I wanted – it was a lie. He knew I didn’t do serious.

‘Lena, wh—’

‘It’s better if we don’t.’ I scrambled for the door handle. ‘If you’d told me that’s what you wanted, I wouldn’t have—’

I finally found it and yanked the door open. The bright lights of the aviary made me wince.

‘You’re leaving?’ The fog of desire left Theo’s voice, replaced by disbelief. ‘You’re actually going to leave?’

‘Yes, I am. I’m not going to delude myself into thinking it would work out and if you were honest with yourself, you wouldn’t either.’ I’d intended to get the last word in without looking back.

‘Fine! Walk away like you always do.’ His voice strained. ‘I’ll see you in a few weeks when you need some other favour you couldn’t possibly get from anyone else!’

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

When I arrived at the ranch I went directly to the aviary, pulled on some overalls and got to shovelling and raking the copper pellets. I ignored the ghost of Theo’s touch on my skin. I ignored the faint smell of orange and lemon in my hair.

Repetitive manual labour was the only answer. I had acknowledged the sexual attraction and given in to it only for it to stop before the good part, leaving me two kinds of frustrated. I had to throw myself into doing something, anything, that could distract me from the wounded look on his stupid face as if he wasn’t the one who’d messed it all up.

‘What happened?’ Josie’s footsteps were gentle across the gravelly floor.

The dragons, who up until now had been ignoring me, raised their heads to watch. Maybe Josie was their favourite. Everyone liked Josie. She was worth apologizing to if she was wronged. Some people weren’t so lucky and that was fine. Absolutely fine.

‘I don’t want to talk about it,’ I replied, not pausing as I sifted out the molten chunks of fused copper.

‘You were supposed to be with Theo all of today. You still have your hair done from last night and, hm, what else? Ah, a collection of stills of you going out with Theo and the Prevere boys last night – front page of the racing newspapers and casts.’

The prongs of the rake bent as I shovelled with more vigour.