Chapter 96

 

I stepped back another foot. “Besides that.”

He clenched his jaw. “I’m sorry, the last week was hell as I went crazy wanting you…” he looked at me again, “now it seems the desire is even stronger.”

I wanted to call him on it and tell him it couldn’t be, but as I stood there fighting to keep my eyes on his face and not running all over his body, I couldn’t. “I feel it too.”

A satisfied look came into his eyes. “Mmm, well, we’ll have to work on controlling it.”

I nodded, even though inside my head I was saying yeah right! I shook my head, unable to just go along with it. “How?”

“I have no idea,” he said with a grin.

“Great.” I stood there with my hands clasped together just as he stood there with his hands tucked in his pockets. Neither of us moved.

“I should go so you can get some rest.” He said resignedly.

I nodded again like a bobble head. “Okay.”

He took one step toward me, hesitance on his face. “I …” He huffed out an abrupt breath. “May I just,” he paused looking confused. “I’d like to try something.” He held out his palm and looked at it. “It won’t stop tingling.”

“Mine’s doing it too,” I said breathlessly.

His hazel eyes moved to hold mine in a look that pleaded. “I am just wondering…”

I pointed a finger at him. “You keep those teeth in your mouth.”

A relieved look came over his face. “I swear.”

Looking down at my hand, I lifted my head up and took the last few steps between us. When I stood right in front of him, my body started buzzing and as much as I knew where that was going, I still did it anyway. With slow movement, I ran my hand down the length of his arm, tracing the pattern now marking it. The achy feeling I’d been filled with eased and was replaced with calm.

The look on his face told me he felt the same. Careful to keep his movement slow and non-threatening, he lifted his hand and ran his finger-tips down over my tattoo. A heated looked filled his eyes, but he didn’t do anything more than just touch me lightly.

My stomach clenched as my body tried to urge me to move closer to him. This went beyond hormonal urges, it felt more like something necessary.

Troy took a deep shaky breath, confirming that he was fighting the same urges. “I feel better but…”

“Not.” I finished for him.

He moved closer, our bodies almost touching and leaned down so his face was near my head. “Keeping my teeth to myself,” he whispered beside my ear, “does that include my lips?”

A shudder ran through my whole system, making me feel weak. “I don’t think kissing would be a good idea.” I inhaled, his scent was so good.

Moving his hand up to the back of my neck, he nuzzled his face into my hair. “Probably not, but is it allowed? I will not cross any more lines where you are concerned.”

A few minutes earlier I would have said no kissing, not any type of kissing, but right now all I was thinking was kiss me. Turning my face towards his, our mouths touched without a single breath of time passing. His mouth was firm, but he was being very gentle as he held my head and kissed me so deeply I tingled all the way to my toes. The burning in my arm was gone, the confusion faded and all that mattered was him.

Lifting his mouth away, he pulled me in closer only to crush my mouth beneath his again. Heat moved through my body and it wasn’t until I started to relax, that I realized it was exactly where we’d begun all of this a short while ago. Kissing him back like a starving woman, I pulled my face back from his and stood there trying to catch my breath.

His hold on me gentled, as he looked down at me with bright red eyes as he eased a few inches between us. He was breathing as heavily as I was, both of us were surprised that the flames consumed us as quickly as they had. Swallowing, he took a deep breath and tried to settle. Running his hand down over my left arm in a loving way, he stepped back. “Get some rest. I’ll see you at breakfast.”

Through the raging hormones I groaned, dreading the moment when I’d have to walk into a room full of his siblings, knowing that they would be more than aware of what we’d done.

He sent me an amused look. “Not to worry I’ll have my brothers under control by the time you get there.”

I didn’t know if he could sense what I’d been thinking or not, just as long as I got to eat in peace the next day. “I’ll see you then.”

His eyes, now almost hazel moved over me once before he inclined his head and quickly went to the door. With one last look over at me, he opened it and left.