Page 29 of Eight Embers

Oh my gods. I just touched her breast. Do you think she noticed? Of course she noticed that. It's attached to her. She didn't say anything, though. Is she waiting for me to address it?

Sweet goddess, she's repulsed right now, isn't she? She thinks I've lost all respect for her and have decided to start groping her all willy nilly.

My hand is still tingling. They were so soft.

No! Snap out of it. You cannot.

But she is my mate, technically, so...

Fart nugget. I just walked into a light post. Dag nabbit, that hurt.

“Oh my gods, Wil! Are you okay?” Delaney gasps, fleeing to my side.

Great, now I've waylaid our mission because I don't know how to handle myself in any sort of situation involving her. “I'm sorry I touched your breast. I didn't mean to.”

I can breathe easier now knowing she's at least heard me apologize. Maybe I'll breathe again fully when she accepts my apology.

“You touched my breast? When?”

I throw myself back onto the ground and stare at the clouds, wishing the ground could just swallow me whole. I feel like that would be far less painful than this current situation. “When we were trying to get out the door of your dorm room,” I explain quietly. “It was an accident. I’m disgusted with myself.”

She stares down at me, the tips of her toes in her black sneakers brushing against my hip. “Don't be. Unless you don't like my breasts? Do you even want me? We haven't really talked about us courting or anything.”

Oddly enough, the hint of panic is what calms me down more. I like that she gets awkward with me as well, it makes me feel like I can be more myself.

Feeling cheeky, I wrap a hand around her ankle and yank on her leg a little bit until she stumbles, not accounting for the fact that she would completely trip over me. I thought maybe she would just stumble a little bit and end up hovering above me in a really cute way like couples in movies do.

As it plays out though, I have to roll over quickly to catch her. I'm able to cushion her fall just enough that the wind gets knocked out of me, but she's spared any sort of pain.

At least I got what I want. She's now right above me, our bodies more or less aligned. So the outcome is good, but the execution needs some work.

I gape like a fish, trying to draw breath that won't come.

“Oh no, I broke you!”

“He likely just got the wind knocked out of him, Delaney,” the unicorn tells her.

I nod seriously and point at him, so she knows that he's correct.

When the air finally comes back, my first instinct is to grab onto her, and it feels so naughty.

Her wide hips are so, so... wonderful. “I'm touching you,” I say stupidly.

While we're here and being stupid though, I might as well go for broke. “I like touching you. I didn't mean to insinuate that I didn't enjoy my... earlier, you know, touches. Only that it was without your consent. I already told you I was romantically interested in you. I just never thought I actually had a chance.”

“I really,reallywant to kiss you right now,” she says as she stares down at me.

I see this playing out in my mind, going two different ways.

The first way is that I launch her off of me or turn my head shyly, avoiding her at all costs to keep myself pure.

The other way this plays out is I let my body have what it wants, and I give myself permission to kiss the woman I'm supposed to be mated to. Somebody that the goddess has blessed me with.

I feel hopelessly reckless, and I don't let myself second guess anything else.

I remove one of my hands from her glorious hips so I can pull her head down to me. Her soft hair is up in a bun, but it tickles my fingertips as I weave them into it. Her eyes widen slightly as she realizes what's happening, but I can tell that she is readyto enjoy it. A look of almost relief crosses through her eyes the second before our mouths touch.

I know it's not actually our first kiss, that she got excited and kissed me before; but this is the first intentional timeI'vekissed her, so it feels pretty major.

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