Page 26 of The Lightkeeper

“I’ve got it.” He was focused on my feet, tugging the last of the fabric over my ankle.

I sighed as soon as the band loosened and exclaimed, “Me too.” I shimmied my shoulders and smiled in triumph when my bra landed on top of my leggings.

It hardly made a noise when it fell, but the way his head cocked and he stared… it was like I’d dropped my severed head on the floor next to him.Gross, Aurora.But I didn’t have subtle words to describe the shock on his face.

Slowly, he straightened. First, the curve in his back, then the angle of his neck, until he stared straight in front of him…at my naked chest.

This time, the aching tightness of my nipples had nothing to do with the cold. In fact, I couldn’t really feel the cold at the moment. It was still there, but distant, trapped behind the hot wall of the man kneeling in front of me, his face only a few cramped inches from my breasts.

Air leaked slowly and unsteadily from my lungs.Was I not supposed to take my bra off, too?My mind swam. I just wanted to be warm, and he’d said to take the wet clothes off… but now… I tried to swallow. Now, my naked breasts hung in front of his face. My peaked nipples straining toward him.Should I be embarrassed? Should I cover myself?No one had ever been this close to my bare chest before. Ironic that the first time I was almost completely naked in front of a man, that man wanted nothing to do with me.

I shivered. “I-I’m s-sorry.”

“Aurora…” He let out a low groan, his hot breath rushing over my skin.

I inhaled sharply. His stare… his exhale…everythingfelt so warm.It felt like heaven.

“Do that again,” I begged, and hisgrip tightened on my waist. “Your breath felt so good… so warm.”

Was it insane to ask someone to breathe on you?Maybe. Probably.But it was warm and that was all that mattered.

He didn’t move. I wasn’t sure he even dared to breathe. The only proof of life I had was that persistent tic on the side of his jaw, the muscle firing a rapid beat.And then his mouth parted, the heat of his exhale rushing through his lips and hitting my skin like a burst of heat.

“Yes, like that.” I sighed. It felt so good. Goose bumps pebbled across my skin, my nipples pulling even tighter like they strained to get closer to his mouth.Oh, that would feel good.That would feel hot—the heat of his mouth on my nipple. Around it. The blanket on his tongue. “Again,” I begged.

But I couldn’t ask for that.Even fevered, I could still see that line.

Warm air spilled out once more from his lips. “Aurora…” He sounded like he was in pain, too.

“Closer.” I pulled on his shoulders, and I heard his groan.

The room started to lose focus as I stared at him, my breath catching and waiting until I saw his head jerk forward in the tiniest of increments until there was hardly any space between his mouth and my skin—only space enough for breath.

But that was all I needed.

His shoulders swelled with each ragged inhale, and when he breathed out, I sighed in relief. Over and over, the heat of his exhale hitting my sternum chased the cold from my skin.And maybe a little bit of the intensity of his stare, too.If he just turned his head, his lips could touch my skin—my breasts. But where he was, he was trapped between them.

“More,” I pleaded breathlessly, his breaths collecting like kindling low in my stomach, stoking a different kind of heat to life.

Slowly, his head turned, the heat of his exhale coasting down the slope of one breast. It felt so good, my knees threatened to shake. I slid my hands to the back of his neck, wordless encouragement to keep going.

And he did.

With that ragged, determined look he always wore, he continued to warm the curve of my breast all the way down to my nipple. When the first rush of his breath hit the sensitive peak, I couldn’t stop the whimper that escaped my lips. It wasn’t from the warmth or the cold, it was from the bolt of electric pleasure that fissioned out through my body and pooled between my thighs.

“More, Kit.” I sounded like a drunken beggar as my fingers curled into the hair at his nape, sliding just a little higher onto his scalp.

I wanted his mouth on me. I wanted to feel his lips and tongue slide over my skin. Yes, I wanted that warmth, but I wanted something more. There was an ache that gnawed at my core, a kind of hunger the feel of his mouth would sate.

“Please.”

His deep groan rumbled around the small room. His head drifted closer—so close. If I just bowed my back a little, my nipple would be in his mouth.Just a little more.

My hand speared along the back of his head, determined to pull him the last of the way. And I swore I felt the firm press of his lips—the kind of heat that only comes from skin on skin. I sucked in a breath, a moan swelling in my throat, ready to release. My fingers spread wider, bracing for the final impact, when they encountered a distinct ridge on the back of his scalp.

And then the bubble we were in burst.

“Fuck.”Kit stood so suddenly, it was a good thing his hands were still on my waist to steady me or I would’ve toppled. His arm reached toward the small cabinet on the wall. A flash of white stretched toward the floor. And then I felt the towel being wrapped around me.

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