Page 82 of Dragon Gods

“Were you close?”

“He was my best friend.”

She picked at her nail beds. “I’m still going to fight for the resistance. I’m going to fight for my people, no matter what. But I can understand why you hate us.”

He was suddenly closer, a hand coming down to cover hers, stopping her from picking.

“It was my fault, too,” he said, words low and gravelly. She might not have heard them, had he not moved closer.

“What?” she said, her own tone as soft as his.

“I was somewhere I shouldn’t have been and he came to grab me. If I hadn’t gone…if I had left when he first told me to, we wouldn’t have been there when the explosion went off.”

Her stomach twisted with acid. “You were?—”

“It’s the reason I hate small spaces. I was stuck under the rubble for five hours before they found me. But he protected me. Had he not jumped on me when the explosion happened…”

He didn’t need to finish the words.

“I—” she started, before stopping herself. He squeezed her hand before letting go and standing up.

“You should sleep, I can keep watch,” he said. His mask slipped back into place, seamlessly. Even as he made the offer, she could see the exhausted slump of his shoulders deepen, as if preparing himself for battle.

“You need to sleep, too. We’re probably fine to both sleep.” Her lips quirked into a small smile to see the relief clear on his face.

“If we’re both going to sleep, we should put the fire out.”

She was surprised by his words and she didn’t pretend otherwise. “I’m not an idiot,” he said, reading her expression. “I did go through basic training.”

“I’m impressed your training was adequate in any way.” She smiled, letting her own guilt slip from her shoulders and tuck somewhere deep in her chest.

He met her smile with one of his own as he stood and began scooping dirt and sand onto the fire. They had made it small, and it went out easily after a few minutes.

“Before you wake me up shivering, perhaps we can simply agree to sleep together?”

Sofia froze for a moment before slowly turning to look at him, eyebrows raised.

He seemed to realize what he had said in the same moment his eyes met hers, and his lips pursed slightly. “Your thoughts are too dirty for your own good.”

“You’re the one who said it. Your mind’s the one having dirty thoughts.”

His eyes darkened, trailing up and down her body for a moment before he answered, sending heat suffusing through her body.

“As if you’d be so lucky.”

She moved forward, blood rushing thorough her body. She ignored the pulse of her core as she pressed her palm against his chest. His face blushed pink, and she savored his discomfort, perhaps a bit too much. She brought her other hand to cup him below the waist. He was half-hard.

“I don’t think your body’s gotten the memo that you don’t want me.”

Indecision flickered through his eyes before he leaned down. He brought his face forward until his lips were only an inch from hers. The wet heat of his breath tickled against her skin as he breathed and her mouth opened involuntarily, eyes unable to look away from his.

“Trust me. You’ll know when I want to fuck you, oh captor of mine.”

With that, he pulled away, and Sofia was left trembling ever so slightly. She snapped her mouth shut and shook off the electricity vibrating through her body. The first thing she needed to do when she got back to the resistance was get laid.

She was tempted to curl up on the ground alone after his little comment, but knew he was right. She’d only wake up freezing in the middle of the night. Besides, she didn’t want him to think he’d intimidated her. She wasn’t a fragile flower. So when he had made himself comfortable and lifted his cloak, she slipped in beside him. He wrapped an arm around her, scooping her closer.

She stiffened slightly as their bodies met, hard against soft.

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