Page 44 of Our Deceptive Heat

“Dreaming.”

His hand slides down my hip, and suddenly I’m hot and heated, and his touch isn’t giving me shivers, it’s turning me into a furnace of need. I pick up my wine and drink a good size mouthful.

“What about?”

“Do you like the new song?” I ask and hope he can’t hear the desperation in my voice.

In the mirror, I see his lips twitch as he fights a smile. The familiar facial expression sends a pang straight to my aching heart.

“I do like the new song. I think it’s going to be fabulous, but I don’t want to talk about work.”

I lick my lips and open my eyes, watching him in the mirror. “What do you want to talk about?”

“I want to talk about us.”

I choke on my wine and wish I hadn’t taken a gulp at exactly that moment.

“There is no us, Mako.”

“Oh, you know there is. They know there is. But you’ve all decided to live in this delusional land of yours. It’s frustrating when I see the way you watch me. And I know you feel the way I watch you.”

“You do? I don’t notice,” I lie.

“Oh, you feel it, my gaze that says I’ve spent the last hour picturing you naked, licked every part of you. Daydreaming that you’d lower your cunt onto my face and let me drown.”

I suck in air, but it’s so hard to breathe.

“If you won’t get naked and let me lick you, will you dance with me?”

I turn so I can see his face, but that’s a mistake. I can’t resist him. He reaches for my hand, not pulling but just holding my fingers, his thumb stroking over my knuckles until I feel like I might die.

I should say no.

I stand up, and when he backs up, I follow him into a little area where there are no tables. He pulls me up to his chest and leans down, his mouth near my temple.

“I love this song.”

The song is an old ballad about love lost. It’s a beautiful song and one of my favourites. I’ll probably always associate it with Mako now.

He moves us around slowly, shuffling from spot to spot. I don’t care. I’m breathing his scent in, feeling a calm that I never feel anymore.

“I missed you, fish.”

“Are you ever going to stop calling me that?”

“You started it, calling me shark.”

“It’s literally your name.”

He grins. I can feel it against my temple.

“Don’t disappear again, Auryn. I can’t take it.”

I inhale sharply, suddenly so clearly aware of why we shouldn’t be doing this.

I pull myself free and look up at him. He lets me go. I know he’s right, and I’m being irrational, but part of me is upset that he lets me go so easily.

Why are my emotions so all over the place?

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