I hadn’t even thought about Finn. “Then why don’t you?”
“Because of this.”
He steps into me, one hand sliding behind my nape as he hauls me toward him.
Thiago’s mouth crashes down upon mine and I freeze as he lays siege to my mouth.
The kiss takes me by surprise.
It’s hot, possessive, controlling. Every inch of it is a statement: You’re mine.
There’s nothing sweet about this kiss. Nothing gentle. My fists curl in his shirt—partly to push him away, I think—but as the taste of him overwhelms me, I realize that wasn’t what I was planning at all.
He draws back, as if sensing my hesitance. But it’s too late. It was too late the second he touched me.
I kiss him back. Hard.
It’s like I give him permission. Sliding a hand down my spine, he sinks those firm fingers into my ass and hauls me against him. Everything is heat. He could set me alight with a single kiss and when his tongue strokes against mine, my entire body wilts into his embrace. This. I want this. A shiver runs through me as if the lash of his tongue echoes within. I can practically feel it between my thighs and my mind rewards me of a flashback of last night, when he laid waste to the slit between my thighs.
The enemy.
I’m kissing the enemy.
What are you doing? whispers the part of me that I really should listen to. Common sense, perhaps.
But common sense dictates I shove him away from him, demand that he won’t tell a soul about this, and then return to my tent where I will never see him again. Common sense would have me bound at the wrist to Etan, forced into his bed and his life and shackled by every whim he ever has. Common sense is what has made me hold my tongue all these years, when my mother stared me down.
Common sense needs to die a convenient death.
There’s no reason to this. Nothing beyond need. And maybe there’s a little part of me that likes that it’s him I’m kissing. This is freedom. My mother would kill me if she knew I was here, and there’s a vindictive sort of pleasure in knowing that.
It’s Thiago who breaks the kiss first, resting his forehead against mine and breathing hard. “You ruin me,” he rasps. “All my good intentions…. Gone.”
“Likewise.” Pleasure hammers through my veins. I splay my hand over his chest, digging my fingertips into the hard muscle there. I barely had a chance to explore last night.
Thiago’s eyes open and he stares down at me, a dangerous smile curling over his mouth. “This is so wrong.”
“I know.” The whisper is torn from my lips.
“I don’t want to stop. I don’t want to end this.” His thumb brushes over my breast, scraping against my nipple. “But I won’t have a repeat of last night.”
“What was wrong with last night?”
His mouth twists. “The second I touched you, I lost control. I was inside you before I could barely have a chance to explore.” He lifts my wrist to his mouth, pressing a kiss to the inside of my pulse. “And trust me, Princess. I want to explore.”
A shiver runs all the way through me as his tongue traces over those delicate veins.
“I—”
He suddenly freezes.
“What? What’s wrong?”
He captures my hand, pushing the sleeve of my gown higher until he can see the ring of bruises around my wrist. His touch is far more careful than it ought to be. Almost as if he can’t bear to see those marks that mar my olive skin.
I wrench my hand back to my chest. “Don’t.”
Our eyes meet, and there’s something dark and dangerous stirring within him, something intense that traps me in its spell, until the world drops away from around me.
“Who did this to you?” So dangerous, that voice. “Who hurt you?”
“It’s nothing.”
The muscle in his jaw flexes. “These weren’t on you last night. I didn’t— I didn’t hurt you?”
Oh gods. Relief shears through me. “No. It wasn’t…. You didn’t bruise me.”
But someone did, his eyes say.
“It’s nothing.”
“Did she do this?” There’s murder in his eyes, and it’s a shock to realize he would kill my mother for daring to touch me.
I can’t breathe all of a sudden.
The last person who tried to protect me was tortured and cast from the castle. After Nanny Redwyne disappeared, I swore I’d never let myself love another person again.
But holding your emotions at bay means withdrawing from the world.
Maybe that’s why I’m so vulnerable to his touch. Maybe it’s because a part of me is do desperate to be touched.
“It’s nothing,” I repeat. “I… I did the wrong thing.”
Thiago visibly swallows down his fury. “I have no right to ask. I have no right to… protect you.” He hates the thought, I can tell. Sliding his fingers through mine, he lifts my hand once more, pressing a gentle kiss to the back of it. “I have no right to even tell you what you should and shouldn’t do. You’re not mine.” His voice roughens. “You can never me mine. But if there is one thing I know, it is this—you deserve to be treated with respect. There’s nothing you could have done to have earned this, and whoever set hands to you in anger deserves to be fucking flogged. You deserve better—”
I press my finger to his lips because I can’t bear to hear more. “I know I deserve better,” I tell him fiercely. “But wishes don’t come true.”
There’s an ancient pain in his eyes. “Maybe they could?”
“Then grant me this wish. Give me one more night,” I whisper, stroking my fingertips over the stubble lining his jaw. “Whatever this madness is, let me have it just one more time. Kiss me. Please.”
Thiago’s eyes turn molten.
But this time, he gently traces my cheek as he leans toward me. “If I’m only going to have you one more time, then I can’t waste a moment of it.”
His lips brush mine.
It’s not a claim this time.
It’s a seduction.
I hadn’t realized until this moment that a kiss could be both. It feels like he’s trying to do this right, and make up for the passion that overtook the both of us last night. I could kiss him forever. He’s good at this, and I don’t think that’s my inexperience showing.
Tiny shivers erupt over my skin as his tongue darts out to taste my lips. I want to step into him, to press myself against every inch of him, but something inside me wants this moment too.
My mouth opens and I stroke his tongue with mine. Thiago shudders and that feels good too, because I’m not the only one being seduced in this moment. It gives me a heady kind of power. I dig my nails into his forearms and lift up onto my toes, claiming his mouth. Mine. It’s a thrill that runs all the way through me, curling like a warm heat within my core.
“I want to see you naked,” I whisper, drawing back and staring up at him through glazed eyes. “I want to touch you. I want to taste you.”
He sucks in a sharp breath. “Gods, it’s like you were made for me.”
Capturing me in his arms, he takes two steps and then lays me down upon the heather. I grab a fistful of his shirt and haul him down atop me, his hips sliding between my welcoming thighs.