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“Jace,” I gasp. “I need to… I need to feel something. Please, make me feel something else.”
He immediately shifts his head, bringing his lips down to my neck. A shudder, but one of warmth and pleasure this time, ripples through me as he kisses that sensitive spot below my ear.
“Whatever that nightmare was about, it wasn’t real this time. It wasn’t happening to you again.” He kisses that spot again before continuing down the side of my neck. “This is real. This is where you are. You and me.”
A small whimper slips past my lips.
Jace shifts us over, gently laying me down on the bed while he straddles my hips. He draws his strong hands along my arms, positioning them so that my hands are resting against the mattress beside my head. His warm and muscular body is a solid weight against my own, and the feeling of it keeps me from breaking apart completely.
I suck in an unsteady breath as he draws his hands down my arms again while his lips continue brushing over my throat. Another pleasant shudder rolls through my body as his steady hands slide down my sides. He stops once he reaches my ribs, and just holds me like that. And the feeling of those strong, confident hands against my body grounds me. I release a deep sigh.
Jace kisses his way over my collarbones, and every brush of his lips sends tingles down my spine. It chases away the coldness that was clinging to my bones. Another whimper spills from my lips as he lightly grazes his teeth over my skin.
My heart is now beating hard in my chest, but for a different reason.
Warmth spreads through my body as Jace keeps his commanding hands on the sides of my ribs while he kisses his way back up my throat. Lightning skitters across my skin as he slides his lips along my jaw. Then he slants his mouth over mine.
Raising my hands, I slide them through his soft curls and pull his lips down to mine.
A pulse of heat surges through me.
Jace rolls his hips and kisses me back as if it was the sole reason he was put on this earth. Oh God, the way this man kisses. His tongue swoops in, dominating mine, as he lays complete claim on my lips. I moan into his mouth. My fingers curl in his hair, gripping it hard before I rake my fingers through it again just to feel those soft strands brush over my skin.
Jace answers by deepening the kiss.
He kisses me until my head is spinning. Until I can’t breathe. Can’t think. Can’t remember why I felt so cold and panicked only minutes before.
My pulse slows and my body relaxes.
I’ve got you, he said.
Yes. Yes, he truly does.
Once my body is no longer tense and trembling, Jace breaks the kiss. But he doesn’t pull back. Instead, he rests his forehead against mine, his eyes still closed.
“Tell me what you want,” he whispers.
My throat closes up at the emotions in his voice. I slide my hands down to the back of his neck and then over his broad shoulders. His body is so warm underneath my palms. Jace Hunter truly is like the sun. Like my own private sun, capable of chasing away the coldest and darkest of memories.
“Just hold me,” I whisper back.
He nods, his forehead moving against mine. Then he gives me one more kiss, a soft and gentle one, before he rolls over and lies down next to me. The mattress sways underneath me as he shifts before settling his weight.
Once he’s lying on his back, he slides an arm underneath me and pulls me to him. I roll over on my side and drape my arm over his muscular chest. He holds me tightly and tilts his head down to kiss my forehead again.
Pleasure curls around my spine.
For quite a while, we just remain like that. I can feel his heart beating against my palm where I rest it on his chest. It’s steady. Unshakable. Just like he is.
Suddenly, I get the overwhelming urge to tell him. To tell him what the nightmare was about. What happened when I was a kid. Why I hate rivers. Why my father insists on having a bodyguard monitor my every move even though I would never do something so terribly stupid again.
I open my mouth to speak.
A pulse of self-consciousness ripples through me, and I hesitate.
It’s not his burden to bear. It’s not his job to listen to my sob stories. Him just being here right now, holding me because I asked him to, is more than he needs to do already.
So I close my mouth again.
