Page 36 of Thorns & Fire
Only when she felt the tug of the fabric did she realize that Torj’s fingers were trembling too.Every time they grazed her skin, she had to stop herself from arching into his touch, a touch she knew could set her alight.Every time his breath whispered along her spine, the ache between her legs intensified, her breasts growing heavy in her hands.
Wren had to bite her lip to keep a whimper contained.
Cold air kissed the base of her spine.
‘There,’ Torj said gruffly, turning his back to her once more.
Her voice was raw.‘Thank you.’She made quick work of removing her skirts, knowing they had little chance of drying by morning, but hanging them up anyway.As fast as she could, she slipped beneath the dry blanket and rolled onto her side, facing the wall, wincing at the cold seeping through the groundsheet.
‘Your turn,’ she told the Warsword.
The whole tent seemed to rock as Torj went about removing his soaked clothes, and Wren stared resolutely at the faded canvas, unable to stop her mind from wandering to the vivid picture the rustle of fabric painted for her.
Wren sucked in a breath as the blanket lifted and the Bear Slayer slid under it as well, careful not to touch her.But he didn’t need to touch her to send that current of lightning rushing through her – the fact that he was mere inches away, completely nude, did that just fine.
Still shivering, she couldn’t stop herself.She rolled to her other side to face him, holding the blanket high under her chin.His hair was messy, his cheeks flushed – with cold or exertion, she didn’t know.
Devastating.That was how he looked, roughed up by the storm and naked beneath the blanket they shared.It was enough to make her heart quicken and fuel the pulse of need between her thighs.
‘You’re shaking like a leaf,’ he observed as she bit her lower lip.
‘Whoever said Warswords don’t catch on quick?’she replied.Then, feeling bold, she added, ‘We’d be warmer if we were closer...’
‘I don’t want that.’
‘Fine.Then we’ll freeze to death.’
‘Embervale, I...’He trailed off.
‘If you’re happy chattering so hard you break a tooth, then so be it,’ she snapped, unsure why she was arguing, why she was putting herself in this position.‘But for what it’s worth, it wouldn’t mean anything.’
The Bear Slayer muttered something to the Furies under his breath, before tilting his face to the roof.‘Fuck it.’
Solid arms enveloped her, drawing her flush against his naked form.A moan nearly slipped from her, and her hand brushed—
He was rock hard beneath the blanket, and hot, deliciously hot to the touch.
‘According to your body, there’s something here you very much want, Bear Slayer,’ she teased, though it took all her willpower to draw her hand away.
Torj’s grip tightened around her, almost crushing her to him.‘I’m a mortal, aren’t I?No man could look at you without yearning for what doesn’t belong to him...’
Despite the slickness that had gathered at her core, despite the primal need to rake her fingers down his body, the words were like a fine cut to the heart, and Wren had to swallow down the words,I did belong to you, once.
CHAPTER 13
Torj
‘A poisoner’s code should value simplicity: a single pinprick, a single drop, a single heartbeat between life and death’
– An Encyclopaedia of Deadly Plants
HE’D SAID THEwrong thing.He knew it as soon as the words left his lips and Wren’s taunting ceased.Instead, she was still and quiet, her freezing feet warming between his calves.
Gods, he had dreamed of having her naked in his arms again, so many times.And now she was, but for all the wrong reasons.His cock was just about punching a hole through the blanket, yet he couldn’t do anything about it.When her hand had grazed his shaft he’d nearly moaned at her touch, had nearly flipped her on her back and settled himself between her legs, where he belonged—
No.He had to stop thinking like that.He didn’t belong with Wren.She certainly wasn’t his to claim.He’d given up that right.And so he’d try to keep her warm in the night, nothing more.Though who could blame him for savouring the feel of her naked body against him for the last time?
He mentally traced every part where they were connected.
