‘You don’t realise how much your kisses are worth.’
Nick’s gut clenched. A tight pinch, low and uncomfortable. He made his steps loud and he thumped over the concrete. The can of peaches was cold in his hand.
The stall wall was high, but the door was shoulder height. He was able to see them before he entered. Still dressed, Kira sat astride Euan, her knees lost under the blankets but her movements evident in the slow gyration of her hips as she rocked them against him. Her eyes were closed, her lips parted, her hair a tangled mess about her shoulders. Her neck was bent to offer what was asked.
Euan gazed at her as though she was an impossible vision. And she was. Glorious in her ardour, he was enraptured by her, utterly possessed by her sight, her sounds, her breath.
A fire burned under Nick’s skin. A flame that licked and tormented, a heat that sizzled and seared. His belly was full of snakes, his chest was made of constricting iron. A clamp that wound tighter and tighter against his heart.
‘Come here,’ Euan rumbled.
At first, Nick suspected that Euan was speaking to Kira. But when that dark brown eye swung his way, boring a hole through the handle of the iron clamp to loosen its hold, Nick realised that Euan had been speaking to him.
He shook his head. He didn’t really know why he did it, just because the anger was there still. The hurt. Kira’s eyes were locked on him now too. Her cheeks flushed, her hands balled into firsts at Euan’s chest.
‘Not gonna ask again.’
Nick’s feet moved. He squeezed the can before holding it out. An offering, a sacrifice, a deliberate donation to their cause.
It hovered between them. A can of food, of peaches no less, was the shield Nick used to delay the inevitable. Euan’s eye narrowed. The scar below his eyepatch twisted. Nick was stuck where he was, his arm ached as he held the can out. His other hand formed a tight fist for no other reason than because he could do nothing with it.
Long moments past. The wind whistled through the timber slats, the birds squawked as they flew past. The stall smelt of crushed straw and damp.
‘Put the can down.’
He obeyed before he realised his body had moved. The can on the concrete at his feet. The edges were not even rusted. They gleamed in the daylight that shot through the broken roof tiles.
Euan said, ‘Take off your shirt.’
Nick’s gaze snapped up. His breath was even and deliberate. Holding Euan’s stare, he shook his head. It was a gentle sway. Kira’s lust waned and her eyes sharpened. She cocked her head as she waited. One fist opened to lie flat on Euan’s pectoral muscle.
Nobody moved.
Until Euan ran his hands up Kira’s thighs. He reached the clasp of her pants and undid them without breaking eye contact with Nick. Kira gripped his wrist. Her tiny white fingers in contrast to Euan’s thick forearm.
The ache was there, painful and acute. So was the anger, a boil inside his chest that he couldn’t escape. It gripped him like it had the night in the bunker. He said, ‘No.’
Euan said, ‘Yes.’
Nick moved. He took those few steps to reach them and towered above the two. He was a mountain before them. Angry, hungry and confused.
‘I want—’ he started. Stopped. No more words came. The pressure in his chest had crushed them.
‘I know what you want, Nicky.’
He couldn’t. He just … couldn’t.
So, he turned instead, stepped over the can of peaches and walked alone into the growing morning light.
Chapter 10
Kira
Exasperated and aroused, Kira marched across the grass with the volatile mixture thrumming through her veins.
It sizzled and popped, burned brilliant and combative inside her. Her muscles vibrated with it, her heart fluttered and her tummy pitched and swayed. She was inundated with the sentiment that she was sick of trying to contain. Kira was over placating, attempting to wheedle and coerce him into forgiveness with kindness and kisses.
She was angry, and Nick would know about it.
There he was. A blond, lean tower of anger and confusion, of hurt and misery. His despondency was striking. The conflict within him was palatable. Kira’s heart stuttered when he scrubbed his face to rid the tears that had wet his cheeks. Along with them went her fury and her aggression. Nicky’s sadness broke her.
She put her anger aside. ‘You can’t be angry at him forever.’
‘Yes, I can.’
She remained silent as his body shuddered through his own lie. His shoulders tense, his weight evenly distributed on his spread feet. Arms now across his chest. His attention wasn’t on her but on the sun. His brow furrowed from both his internal thoughts and the blinding light.
The walk to him was short. Despite his crossed arms, she wrapped herself around him, absorbed the tension, savoured the heat. His muscles loosened within her clinch and after a few nervous moments, he unlocked himself and pulled her closer. Wordless, she held him, even as her thoughts clashed. Her heart, her head, her stomach all accumulated into her instinctual response. She loved him, so very much, and he needed her support because he was tearing himself apart.
They wanted so much, everything. But they wanted it all with Euan.
His words were in her hair. His arms tightened. ‘I can’t just wipe the slate clean.’
Her fingers slipped into the waistband of his fatigues. He flinched when her cold fingertips brushed warm skin. His scent was in her nose. Under the smoke and the horse, he smelt of rain and man, earth and musk. ‘You don’t have to forget, but you do have to forgive.’
He snorted at that. It jerked her, and she smiled.
‘What if I can’t forgive?’
Her smile slipped from her lips. She pulled back from his embrace to look into those green eyes. A straight nose, high cheekbones, a square jaw dusted with gold whiskers. Jade flecked with amber as well as resentment, and pain. They
