Page 74 of Poison Sun

Please believe it, I think, and I keep my gaze locked on his, as if I can drill my plea into his mind.

He glances at the ground, then refocuses on me.

“I was worried,” he admits. “You left the protection circle. I had no idea where you were. Given that we’re in a place called the Valley of the Vanished, don’t you see why that would be concerning?”

He doesn’t sound worried anymore.

He sounds angry.

He also has a good point.

“Sorry.” My cheeks flush, and I can’t look at him as I scramble for what to say next. “It was stupid. I guess the protection circle was sort of small, and I just wanted some privacy.”

Blaze studies me for a moment longer, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

Then, his expression softens.

“Sure,” he finally says. “No problem. We can just make the protection circle bigger next time.”

“Cool. Sounds good,” I say, even though I’m not convinced he bought it. Plus, we both know that the bigger the circle, the more magic it will take to create.

We need to be conserving as much magic as possible, since we have no idea what we’ll be facing next.

Suddenly, as we’re standing here with only ten feet between us, the memories of last night hit me like a force of nature. The feeling of his skin against mine as it burned hotter and hotter, the fire threatening to consume us both. The rawness. The realness. The closeness.

From the intensity in his gaze, I can tell he’s remembering it as well.

I can also see pretty clearly that he wants a repeat of it. Right here, right now.

Every muscle in my body wants to close the distance between us, kiss him, and lose myself in his touch all over again.

But I can’t. I already feel guilty enough as it is. Now, in the clarity of daylight, I know better than to give into the illusion of trust and make everything worse.

“About last night…” I say, and his breath hitches as he waits for me to continue. “I loved it. Every moment of it.”

It’s not a lie.

It’s also far from that simple.

He gives me a small smile, the admission seeming to smooth over the edges of his worry. “Good. I’m glad.” He runs his fingers through his hair, which is tousled in the sexiest way possible. “When you weren’t there when I woke up, I wondered if you regretted it.”

“I don’t regret it.” The lie tastes metallic in the back of my throat, so I add a truth to try feeling better. “It was amazing.”

He walks toward me, and I know that fiery look in his eyes. He wants to kiss me again. To have a repeat of last night.

But no. I can’t.

“We should get back to camp and pack up,” I tell him, darting out of his path. “We have to cover as much ground as possible while the sun’s up. We can’t risk getting… distracted.”

A shadow of disappointment crosses his face, but it’s gone in an instant. “Absolutely,” he says, and just like that, he’s back to the business of completing our quest. “Let’s do this.”

As we head back to camp, a breeze blows behind me. Whispers in the wind.

Watching me.

Warning me.

Reminding me to keep my guard up around Blaze and be ready to defend myself, no matter what.

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