I rolled my eyes. “I wish I didn’t have to lie to him. To my family. I wish he could truly see me. What I do. I wish he could be proud of me.” I shook my head.
Ransom smoothed his knuckles over my cheek, tipping my chin up to meet his eyes. “I’m proud of you,” he said, the tone in his voice shifting from mission-centered to something more. “Your strength, your insight, the way you protect the royal family. Your ability to learn and laugh in the face of battle. It’s stunning, Olivia. You’re stunning.”
The breath in my lungs caught, my heart faltering. “Ransom,” I breathed his name, unable to voice all the doubts and worries creeping through my head. Unable to think clearly with him pressing me against the door like this, with his body so close to mine, his lips lingering as he inched toward my mouth.
He braced himself with an elbow on one side of my head, his free hand smoothing down my cheek, my neck, along the side of my ribs. The touch slow and intimate and yet not nearly enough. I trembled, a tight string of need ready to snap.
“You were gone,” I managed to say again, and his caress paused on my hip.
He studied me for a moment, then clarity rang in his eyes. “Did you think I meant to have you wake up alone?”
I bit my lower lip, not wanting to admit any truth. “It’s what you’re used to, right?” I asked instead, and he cocked a brow.
“What I’m used to?”
“Leaving before the females can wake and beg for you to stay.”
A low growl rumbled from his chest as he shifted, fully caging me against that door, his thigh slipping between mine. I gasped at the contact, at the consuming nearness of him. “If I hadn’t thought we were in danger, I would’ve stayed right beside you until you woke up, and then I would’ve taken my time. Would’ve made you beg for many things.”
A breath rushed past my lips at his words, at the way he shifted that muscular thigh with just enough emphasis to press right where I wanted him most. A soft whimper sounded somewhere in the back of my throat as he lowered his mouth to mine, his lips warm and strong as he claimed me with a kiss.
I opened for him, tipped my head back to take more of him in. I gripped the arms that remained on either side of my head, digging my nails in with each sure stroke of his tongue.
Fire.
Ransom was pure, molten fire filling my veins. Each tease of his tongue a promise, each nip of his teeth against my lip as demand. I arched into him, needing more of his scent, his taste, the feel of his body and mine crashing together. Needed to lose myself in him for hours, days, months—
The Hunters.
The mission.
Fuck.
I managed to draw my lips from his, managed to work around the ragged breaths to speak. “The Hunters,” I said, relishing the way his eyes were hooded with lust.
He growled, a low, primal sound that curled my toes in my shoes.
“I have to go see them. We need to go see them.”
Ransom held my stare, his chest rising and falling against mine as if he needed a few breaths to collect himself. Slowly, he dropped his arms and took one step back but reached for my hand as if he couldn’t stand the lack of contact.
“Thank you,” he said as we stepped into the hall.
“For what?” I asked, my lips still swollen from his kiss.
“For reminding me of the mission,” he said, upping our pace as we headed out of the estate and toward the chamber. A smirk brightened his molten eyes as he glanced down at me. “Who knew you were such a tempting little distraction,” he teased, squeezing my hand as we stopped before the chamber.
“You’re one to talk,” I fired right back. “With your muscles and that tongue—”
“Don’t,” Ransom cut me off, his tone pleading as we entered the chamber. “Please, don’t talk about my tongue in that breathy, needy way. I don’t think your family would be pleased if I bent you over and fucked you until you screamed loud enough to wake the ancients with your voice alone.”
I froze, my entire body sparking to life with the visual he painted.
“And that’s exactly what will happen if you keep saying such things,” he said, gently gripping my chin. “If you keep looking at me like that.”
I blinked a few times, noting that confident promise in his eyes. The uncompromising need pulsing behind them. Well, at least I wasn’t alone in my starvation.
“Right,” I said, tearing out of his touch and focusing on the interior of the chamber. “I just won’t look at you then,” I said, teasing.