Page 105 of A Tale of Ice and Ash
She moved towards him, placing her hands against his chest, against the tear she mended in his shoulder.
Cole exhaled at the weight of her feathery touch, half shaking as he slid his large hands around her face, cupping her cheeks and thumbing away a loose strand of hair. “I’d like to kiss you now,” he said. “I really,reallywant to kiss you. More than I ever think I’ve ever wanted to kiss anyone.”
Her flesh trembled. “Do it, then,” she said.
She did not expect him to. She wanted him to, wanted him to dissolve that gap more than she’d ever wanted anything, but she was sure his nerve would fizzle away at the last moment, like hers was sure to.
It didn’t.
Their mouths crushed together and Eirwen’s entire body went up like a match, her giddy heart exploding in her chest. Cole’s lips explored hers with expert attention, and she pressed back with all the force she dared, her fingers tight against the skin of his shoulders and aching to move down to examine the rest of him.
Cole jerked back suddenly, his dark eyes shining above her, wide and luminous. “Wait,” he said trepidatiously, “was that your first kiss?”
Eirwen’s cheeks burned. This was what she was afraid of, her inexperience, her weaknesses exposed and raw to the world. “Um… yes. Not… not many prospective partners in the woods, you know. Was it… was it obvious?”
“No,” said Cole, “I’m just a bit surprised you wasted it on me.”
“I wouldn’t saywasted–”
Cole let out a quiet groan, and kissed her again. She folded into him, her hands pooling into his thick, jet black hair, like damp silk.
“You are… very good…” she murmured, as his lips dipped to her neck.
He grinned wildly against her throat. “I would hope so,” he said. “But tell me if you’d like to stop.”
I will never tell you that.
She grabbed his face and forced him back against her lips, tracing the shape of his mouth with hers. His hands drifted to the base of her back, pulling her against the hard panels of his chest. His kiss burnt against her, filling her with liquid heat. She was sunstone, lighting up the cold cavern of her former self, radiant with desire.
This was new and terrifying and wonderful. He could kiss her into utter oblivion.
Something throbbed against her middle, and she was suddenly, painfully aware of how naked they both were.
She pushed away from him. “You can’t sleep with me,” she spluttered.
Cole laughed. “I wasn’t planning on it. I don’t have any of the proper precautions. I can’t sleep with you even if you beg.” His eyes glinted, but then the mischief in his gaze settled. “If that was… your primary concern?”
“It’s… It’s a bit...much.”
Cole smiled softly, grazing her arm. It was a look she wasn’t used to him wearing, devoid of all his wickedness. “Do you want to stop?”
“Um, no, not particularly, if you’re sure you’re all right to just keep to kissing…”
“Of course I am,” he said, stepping closer again. “Your kisses are highly satisfactory.”
“Oh, um, good.” She slipped her arms around his neck.
He pressed his forehead to hers. “Tell me when to stop,” he whispered.
“Not yet,” she uttered back. “Not yet…”
