Page 68 of Death Warden
“It doesn’t affect me.”
“Liar…”
He ran his index finger down my neck and between my collarbones, coming to rest between my breasts. I closed my eyes.
“Look at me when I touch you.”
I opened my eyes to see my reflection in his dark pupils, my mouth parted as if asking for something.
His tongue flicked out to taste his bottom lip. I wanted him to taste mine. What was I doing? “Curo…”
“I know…I fucking know, Adi. But can we pretend for one moment that it’s just you and me.”
Why was he saying this stuff? “I’m mated to Spectre.”
“And soon you’ll be bonded to a conduit. You’ll be gone.”
He was reminding me how temporary my mating was, how little it could mean, that even if I felt the connection, it would only be fleeting. But this…This thing with Curo wasn’t because of a mystical bond.
This was just raw attraction. Plain, simple, and unfettered. And that made it even more dangerous, because if I stepped over the line with Curo, leaving would doubly hurt. Because the same rules applied. I’d get my revelation and I’d have to leave.
“Yes, I’ll be gone, Curo, and if we do this, it’ll be harder on us both.”
His throat bobbed and he leaned in, lips inches from mine. “Maybe I’m willing to take the pain for a few moments of pleasure.” His hand trailed down, inching my towel aside to lay flat on my abdomen, pinky teasing the top of my pubic bone. It took everything I had not to lift my hips to nudge him south.
Instead, I exhaled and gently pushed him away. “You might be willing, but I’m not.” My hand slid up to cup his jaw. “I can’t go there with you knowing I’ll have to walk away.”
He sighed and then rolled away from me, lying on his back to stare at the ceiling. “Then you better get dressed before I change my mind and put the full power of my sexy mojo on you.”
I bit back a smile. “What sexy mojo?”
“Excuse me?” He turned his head to face me.
I made a nonchalant face. “You have no sexy—”
I didn’t get to finish my sentence before he was on me, his body pressing me into the mattress, his face inches from mine, breath mingling. He nudged my nose with his, then trailed the tip of it across my cheek to nuzzle my ear, hips rolling against me, forcing my breath to catch in my throat.
“Curo…”
“Mmmm,” he hummed against my skin, teasing me with the brush of his lips. I tipped my head to the side to give him better access, drowning beneath a wave of desire as he explored my neck with tiny nips and licks.
My chest heaved against his. I needed to tell him to stop. I needed to push him away.
Just one more moment.
His hand slid into my hair, angling my face back to his.
Oh, God. No. I had to—
He claimed my mouth, the contact like a match to a flame, setting me alight, snapping my thready control, and unleashing my need. I growled and kissed him back in a war of lips and tongue. I tugged at his hair one moment in a bid to break the kiss, and hugged him to me the next to prolong the contact.
My wet arousal pressed to his hot, hard cock, with only a thin layer of material between us.
He made a low, guttural sound of appreciation, swelling even more, until my mind was ready to unravel and my body ready to give itself to him, and then he pulled away, eyes wild, hair disheveled from my attentions, and gave me a wicked smile.
“What were you saying?”
I stared at him. “Seriously?” My tone rose in pitch.
