Page 149 of A Tongue so Sweet and Deadly

He bridged the distance between them and pulled her to him, pressing her body against his hard one. His lips whispered over her mouth, barely touching, before shifting to her ear.

“I want you alone. And there is not even a door in this damned place,” he rasped.

A shiver of anticipation traced a path over her shoulders, and her breaths quickened as she breathed, “I’ve heard you’re quite resourceful.”

A growl rumbled in his chest, and Loche crashed his lips against hers.

Chapter

Sixty-One

“Dinner is served!”

Steiner’s voice had them both sigh as they reluctantly pulled away.

When she looked up at Loche, her stomach fluttered at the softness in his hard features, and she almost wished he had picked somewhere else.

Somewhere far, far away from any people.

Another small piece of the wall around her heart broke down when Steiner called out again and Loche’s gaze drifted toward the opening, a hint of a smile touching his lips.

He’d wanted her to see this place because it and the people within it were important to him.

From their first real conversations, she’d felt that he read her better than anyone she’d met before.

She’d thought it was because he was so perceptive.

But perhaps it was because he wasn’t so different from her.

Lessia touched her aching lips, and a small part of her was also relieved that Steiner had interrupted.

If he hadn’t, she would have had to.

She cast a quick glance at the large bed.

She couldn’t let herself get carried away.

But when she briefly met Loche’s eyes, her mind muddled with the promise that flared there, and she cursed herself silently as she turned toward the opening.

As she started toward the staircase, limbs weak from the fever Loche ignited inside her and heart thumping in her chest, he caught her hand. “Ignore him.”

Lessia snorted. “You were the one who wanted me to meet your friends. I won’t be rude when they’ve apparently been cooking all day for us.”

Throwing his head back, Loche groaned, but when she started to walk again, he followed her.

The scents that rose from the communal area made Lessia’s mouth water, and she realized she hadn’t really eaten since last night. The hunger clawing at her gut drove her forward, even as twenty or so pairs of eyes tracked them as they descended.

Warmth crawled across her skin when Loche wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and curious whispers reached her ears. Fixing her gaze somewhere above the faces staring at them, she drew a steadying breath.

There were people of all ages spread out across the stone floor.

A few younger ones, perhaps in their early twenties, but also older—like Geyia and Steiner.

When they reached the bottom, the people swarmed them, pulling Loche into their arms and offering loud and excited greetings. A few embraced Lessia as well, and while some stayed back, the smiles on their faces were genuine, and she didn’t catch even a glimpse of fear or distrust in their eyes as they took in her pointed ears.

Geyia ushered them to a table in the middle of the room, next to the largest fire, and as Lessia began to pile food onto her plate—steaming vegetables, newly baked bread, and lots of fish—the heat from the fire and from the warm welcome settled in her chest.

Loche was seated next to her, and he seemed to be unable to stop himself from touching her.

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