Euan reluctantly agreed it probably was.
He tilted her head, bent. His descent was slow, and he savoured the anticipation. When he finally pressed his lips to hers, it was with such acute gentleness that he wondered if she felt the pressure at all.
He did. He sensed it all. The softness, the flawlessness, the splendour.
She arched into him, a moan in her throat that he took down into his. Her hands were at his clothes, pulling, tugging. He deepened their kiss and when their tongues touched, their unified groans could awaken the gods.
Two steps, and the backs of her knees were to the bed. One more push and she buckled, her body fell with his guidance into the mattress. He was upon her and Christ, it felt so good. The glory of heaven was right here. Her tiny body squirmed against him, skin rasped over cloth, and it was too much between them. Euan’s shirt was gone, so was Kira’s bra. Suddenly he had nipples that pushed against his chest, and he growled because he couldn’t not.
She tasted like ambrosia. Her mouth as soft and as sweet as he remembered. Her tongue played with his, dipped and coaxed, and Euan found himself following her lead. Her fingernails were embedded in his shoulders, the nerves enjoyed the bite of pain.
His hands rasped as they explored. Skin so warm, so supple, like velvet under the sandpaper of his own. He was lost to her, lost to her taste, her smell, her utter and profound magnificence.
He could have lost her; he could have lost this. He had been a knifepoint away from oblivion. If it hadn’t been for that secret hatch, both her and Nick would have died down here. Starvation and resentment their demise.
How could he have done that?
‘Hey.’ Her voice was in his ear and her fingertips were on his face. When had he closed his eyes so tightly? When had the grimace appeared?
‘Come back to me.’
The apology that sat on his tongue was thick and bulbous. It hindered his ability to speak, utter the words he needed to say, the words necessary to begin to heal the rift between them. But he couldn’t speak, so he just held her. Just held the perfection in his arms that he didn’t deserve.
She said, ‘Roll over.’
He found the courage then to open his eyes. Below him, she squirmed with intent, and the spell that had held Euan speechless was broken. Her pupils were blown and a smile so radiant upon her lips it burned another brand on his thundering heart.
‘Roll over,’ she repeated.
A frown of confusion was her answer.
She pushed at his shoulders with those calloused palms. ‘Roll over!’
He did as he was told with confused reluctance. It took effort, more effort than it used to take, until the mattress was at his back, and her crystal blue eyes were all he saw.
She leaned down. Touched her lips to his. Delicate, featherlike, a whisper of sensation. Euan attempted to meet the temptation, only for her to force him back down with a hand at his throat. ‘Kira?’ he choked.
Her eyes were cobalt fire, flame and sparks. ‘I want you to listen to me.’
His shock kept him silent. When her grip tightened, he nodded.
‘You’re mine, understand? I want you back. I’m in this bed because I missed you. I love you, will always love you. I need you to love yourself too, and come back to me.’
He heard her words, he did. But all he could see, all he could think was how beautiful she was. Not just in feature, but her soul. In her ire, making demands of him, demands that, in that moment, he would move the magnetic field of the earth to bring to fruition.
‘Promise me,’ she demanded, squeezing.
The smile that split his lips had everything to do with her and nothing to do with his raging hard-on. Her dominance over him, her anger and demands gave him a power below the belt that rivalled the strength of an oak. ‘Okay,’ he croaked.
The muscles around her eyes softened, the tightness of her lips eased. ‘Okay,’ she whispered.
He pushed against her hand. ‘Kiss me.’
Her eyes narrowed. ‘Are you getting off on this?’ Her tiny fingers flexed.
His erection surged. His grin grew. ‘Kiss me, before I kiss you.’
She was slow to move, hyper-aware of his strength, his ability to overpower her. But he held still, waited for her lips to meet his.
Then his hands were in her hair, and a feminine moan was engulfed with a masculine one and a tiny little waist was moving against the hard planes of a hair-dusted stomach. A nipple was pinched, a gasp, a whisper. Those gyrations increased.
‘See that you don’t need me here, then.’
They broke apart like opposing neutrons. But Euan was not going to be shamed, even if Kira’s cheeks were pink and she moved her hands from his body to cover her nakedness.
Euan narrowed his eyes at the anger that swirled in the depths of Nick’s. His displeasure strengthened at the thought that Kira felt the need to hide herself in their combined presence. His voice was impassive when he spoke. ‘Glad you could join us.’
‘I was just going to see if Kira—’ Nick stopped himself, turned to leave, started again. ‘I’ll just be—’
‘Stop.’
Euan’s wrapped his arms around Kira and sat up. Ribs creaked and his stomach muscles trembled with the effort, but he was internally glad when he was upright with their sun-sprite in his lap. Nick kept his back to them, but he did as he was told.
Euan lowered his voice. ‘You’re not going anywhere. Get in here and close the door.’
In his arms, Kira held her breath in anticipation to see if Nick would acquiescent. Euan was not above
