Page 88 of Lifebound

That’s when the smell reached my nostrils—it was…nice.Kind of like peppermint tea, but with a twist.

“I don’t understand anything,” I said honestly, starting with the fact that I’d kissed Rune.

On the mouth.

Withtongue.

And the more I thought about it, the more my lips burned, like we’djuststopped kissing. Like I still had the heat of his body on mine, the memory vibrant.

“She’s harmless,” Rune whispered, thinking I was talking about Miriam, which should have been my main concern, but no. Here I was, focused on keeping my hand down on the table andnotbringing it up to touch my lips to see if they were burning for real—they are not actually burning, you idiot!

“We’ll eat and use the bathroom, and then she’ll take us down there to Cloakwood. We can continue on foot for the rest of the day. By morning, we should be in Blackwater,” Rune continued.

Meanwhile, I was stuck looking at his profile as he spoke and nodded his head toward the cliff, beyond which was the town.

Fuck, he was a good kisser. He was averygood kisser, and though I’d only ever kissed Caleb before, I could tell. The way he’d followed my every movement, had fallen into my rhythm effortlessly. The way he’d kissed me like hemeantit, like he was all in.The way he held me to his chest with all his strength…

“Are you okay?”

Oh, God.

“I’m fine.” I looked away at the sky and the white cotton-candy clouds in the distance, hoping he somehow missed the flush of my cheeks.

“You weren’t fine earlier, when we fell.”Fuck, shit, fuck!“Why? What was that? You looked…”

He searched for the word. Couldn’t find it.

And my instincts jumped at the opportunity because I was so damn embarrassed I was going to melt into a pile of goo right there on that chair.

So, I said, “Terrified.I was terrified, Rune. And I needed a distraction, that’s all.”

The way my heart hammered. The way air seemed to deliberately take its time to reach my lungs when I breathed.

His eyes sparkled when he paused.

“A distraction,” he repeated—because he knew I was full of shit. Of course, I’d never admit it, and I’d stick to this excuse until my dying breath because it at least allowed me to look him in the eye again—buthe knew.

“Yes. Just a distraction.” My voice was breathless, too.

Rune leaned in slowly, eyes on my lips. “No, that wasn’t it,” he calmly said. “You looked desperate, Wildcat.”

That’s because I was, asshole.“Oh, and like you hesitated,” I spit, suddenly angry now—and anger and embarrassment were never a good mix.

Rune’s brows shot up and I knew he was teasing me. “I simply felt sorry for you, mortal.”

Yes, he was most definitely teasing me because he knew how I felt about being calledmortal.

And that was fine. Two could play this game.

“Aw, you shouldn’t have. I’ll tell you what—the next time I need a distraction, I’ll ask someone else for it.Anyonewill do, really. How about that?” Fake sweetness dripped from my words like poison.

His smile dropped, but not all the way—because he, too, knew I was teasing him.

But even so, he leaned in and said, “Do that and watch what happens.”

“I’ll get my distraction is what happens,” I said, and call me crazy but I was actually feeling a great deal of pleasure watching that smile turn pure psycho on his lips. It was just half a smile—I was pretty sure by now that he didn’t know how to smile all the way—but it was murderous.

“You’llkillyour distraction is what will happen.”

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