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“Is this okay?” he whispered back, kissing her other cheek. “I haven’t stopped thinking about kissing you. I haven’t stopped thinking about you. There’s a missing piece in my heart when I’m not with you.”
His confession burst like fireworks inside her chest. She grabbed the fabric at his back, tightening the linens across his chest. “Yes. Kiss me.”
He pulled back and looked at her face again, then leaned into her, pressing his lips to hers as if she was the air he needed to breathe. The soft, supple texture of his kiss felt like the comfort of coming home.
She gasped as he nibbled on her bottom lip, and she clung to him tighter. When she tilted her head, he answered in kind, tilting the opposite direction and grasping the back of her head with a hand. He tested the softness of her lips with his tongue, and she opened her mouth to let him in, her palms flattened against his back holding him more tightly. He tasted of sunshine, like sweet honey collected from a hive in late summer. The space around her heart warmed, sending tendrils of heat through her body. When she whimpered, his kiss intensified.
“Stars, Brinna, you taste good,” Lucian said in between kisses.
She feared he would slip away again and didn’t want to lose her grip. “Don’t stop, Luc.”
“Brinna.” The sound of her name became more than just her name as he said it, but rather a deity to whom he offered his worship. With his mouth on hers and his hands on her hips, he walked her backwards as Sol washed away and a dark space rose around them, packed with the essence of others, crushing them together. Music pounded a rhythm that matched her racing heart.
Music, yes, but not like any she’d ever heard before.
Brinna opened her eyes and gasped, disconnecting. She was still in Lucian’s arms, but they were standing in a darkened room bursting with intermittent light, flaring with the beat of the strange sounding music amidst a massive crowd of people undulating around them. Dancing. But like nothing she’d ever seen and couldn’t imagine in her whole existence. In her shocked awe, she pulled away from Lucian.
“What?” he asked, still peppering her with kisses.
Her eyes skipped across the space like a stone over glassy water before stalling on a group of three people suspended above them, in a fixed cage of sorts, engaging in… an intimate act. Her breath caught at the sight. “Where are we?” She had to yell over the volume of the music.
“What?” Luc looked up and smiled, then said something. When she didn’t respond, he leaned forward and said loudly into her ear, “It’s a sex club. I was in one with Nix, earlier–”
Her eyes flashed to his, hurt, and she stepped back. She’d been stuck in a nightmare, and he’d been in a sex club? Her heart—still pulsing with the rhythm of the music around them—pushed against her throat with a deluge of emotion.
He shook his head. “No! Not what you think.” He groaned and pushed a hand through his hair. “Shit.”
The thumping music waned, the dark making way for a new landscape.
“I didn’t mean to take us there.” He rubbed his forehead with his hand. “My mind is a mess.”
“You went to a sex club?”
“For answers, yes. Not for sex.”
His explanation made her feel a touch better.
A bright sound startled Brinna as she stood to the side of a busy, cobblestone street, busy with people, horses, and something else like a moving, covered wagon without horses but with gigantic wheels. What they were, she couldn’t say. They coughed and sputtered down the roadway as people moved in concert with them, pushing carts filled with fruits, flowers, and other colorful goods for sale. Stone buildings were stacked up around her like boxes, with interesting architecture and panes of windows glittering in the waning sunlight.
When she tilted her head to look at Luc, he was gazing down at her with a strange expression on his face, but it drifted away the moment her eyes met his.
“This is a better place to talk. Looks like a city I loved to visit when I Roamed.” He glanced around, then grasped her hand. “This way.” He tugged her gently along the pathway. “I’m sorry about the other.”
She tried to shove away the hurt, the jealous feeling curling through her, and focused on the surroundings. The women wore beautiful, slim frocks that glittered as they moved, offering glimpses of their legs as they walked past on the arms of smartly dressed men, who tipped their hats in greeting.
“Where are we?”
“A different circle in another time.” He took her hand in his, the warmth of his skin like sitting by a cozy fire, filling her with comfort and contentment. Her heart answered the feeling with an erratic beat that made her eyes jump to his breathtaking face. He was focused as they darted between those moving metal beasts, his fingers tightening around hers, pulling her closer.
Once across the thoroughfare, Lucian turned to her with a smile. “Here we go.” He led them between tables filled with patrons eating along the walkway… outside. Brinna noticed the din of their collective conversations, the musical clink of glass against glass, metal against glass, laughter. When they reached a table, he released her hand and pulled a seat out, waiting for her to take it.
When she did, she noticed she wasn’t in the light blue dress anymore, but rather something like what the other women were wearing. The fabric was a dark aqua, the dress accented with silver sparkles and a silver bow tied at her hip. Her arms were bare but for jangling golden bangles at her wrist. “Oh,” she said, smoothing a hand over the slippery fabric. “What is this?”
“You look beautiful,” Lucian said into her ear.
She turned her head to find Lucian bent forward, his hands on the back of her chair, his face near hers, his lips so close to her own. She glanced at them, and he grinned as he slid a finger over the bare flesh of her arm, raising gooseflesh that raced across her skin. Then he was gone, taking his seat at the small round table across from her. Food sat in front of them, white plates dressed with curled bread, rolled and flakey, fresh fruit, and bits of cheese. There were small cups of…
“Is this coffee?”
