I shook my head, wanting to tell him that nothing could be worth that pain, but the words wouldn’t come.
I wet my bottom lip, prompting a low groan deep in his chest. His insistent pressure still urged me forward until I couldn’t help but give in, feeling his hard length throbbing against my stomach, his solid muscle scorching my palms.
His face inched down, his eyes on my lips, his proximity delicious, the feel of him winding me up until I could barely tolerate the tightness in my core. I slid my hands up over his stellar chest, winding one of them around his shoulders while reaching the other up to cup his jaw, wanting this so badly. Wanting a kiss, wanting the hand on my butt to squeeze and grind me against him. To lift up my dress and touch what was underneath. Unlike with Damarion a few months ago, I didn’t want to back off. I didn’t want to push away. This time, I was all systems go.Eight“We should go in,” I managed, my voice husky and words slightly slurred. It was like I was drunk on his proximity.
“Are you sure?” He skimmed his full lips across my jaw line and down my neck, sucking a little skin into his hot mouth. I moaned. I couldn’t help it.
“We work together, Austin. We shouldn’t do this.” Control precarious and fleeting, I pulled back just a little, but only so I could tug at his neck, wanting to taste him. To feel those lips on mine. We’d kissed once, after a wine tasting that had gotten surprisingly intense, and he’d been a master at it. Sensual and passionate. I wanted to see what else he was a master at. And I was afraid of what it might do to me. “We’re friends. We need to stay friends.”
He kissed the other side of my neck, giving me chills, sending a shock of pure heat straight down to my core. My moan rode an exhale, and my eyes fluttered shut.
“You’re right,” he said softly, before tracing his tongue down the shell of my ear. He sucked in my earlobe, and I melted in his arms. He kissed across my jaw and then leaned his forehead against mine, tensing. His arms constricted around me, squeezing me tightly to him, surrounding me with his strength and power. “You’re right,” he repeated, so soft that I barely heard. “I wouldn’t be able to fight my way out of this one. You’d ruin me forever.”
He released me, and as his words filtered into my consciousness, he stooped to grab the clothes he’d dropped, his movements stiff. He walked off into the trees, leaving me standing there, shivering from the cold that replaced his warmth.
Ruin him?
What was he talking about? I’d probably engineer a horribly awkward situation, but I definitely wouldn’t ruin anything, not even with my magic or building status. If one of us had the upper hand, it was surely him. The townsfolk trusted him, listened to him, and he led the guys who reported to me. He owned the local watering hole I hung out in, for criminy’s sake. He was the town alpha, and I was just an upstart with magic I barely knew how to work. If something got going between us and ended in flames, it would be my setup that got torched. Which, let’s face it, would almost certainly happen, because I wasn’t even looking for a longtime thing and I also had zero experience with loving ’em and leaving ’em and still staying friends. He had this all wrong, laughably so.
Then again, his head wasn’t in the right place. He’d been battling incredible pain and fatigue for a few hours, and suddenly his mood had been magically lifted. His situation was the equivalent of someone on serious pain meds saying cockamamie stuff. I needed to give the guy a break.
I also needed to get into the house and check on my dad, who had to have seen Austin shift, and make sure Mr. Tom hadn’t sent my mom packing for trying to help. There were a lot of fires to put out just now—Austin would have to handle his own.
“Should I meet you in there?” I called.
He walked out a moment later, clothes in place, no shoes or socks, head held high and control firmly back in hand. He glanced at the eaten flowers before pausing at my side. “I’m good. Let’s go try some dip.”
The guy could bounce back on a dime, another thing that gave him an advantage. I was still nervous after a couple of awkward dates and a failure to launch with a handsy suitor.
We started walking together, quietly at first, then I gestured back to the edge of the woods. “At first I thought Edgar was a little… Well.” I scratched my nose. “You know how he can be about the flowers.”