Page 18 of Kiss the Dawn
He groaned and closed his eyes. “I’ve completely killed the vibe, haven’t I?”
I wrapped my arms around his neck. “No. I want you to talk to me about this stuff. To share your worries and your thoughts with me.”
He regarded me with a soft gaze. “I love that about you. I…I love you.”
Joy ballooned inside me. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” He rubbed noses with me, expecting nothing in return for the gift he’d just given me, for the words that echoed the feelings deep inside me. Feelings that had begun weeks ago. Feelings I’d pushed aside because they’d seemed impossible.
I cupped his face and stared deep into his eyes. “I love you too, Ordell. So very much.”
He exhaled sharply, the silver flecks in his ocean blues glowing before he kisssed me with such tenderness it made my heart hurt.
When he drew back, there were shadows in his eyes. “I wish I could come with you.”
“Yeah, me too. But I’ll be back soon. Five days, in fact. Ezekiel’s orders.”
He chuckled and dropped another kiss on my lips. “Sounds about right. I should shower and get cleaned up. Care to join me?”
My phone chose that moment to ring, and Ordellplucked it off the bed above us and handed it to me. “It’s Micah. I’ll get the stall steamed up.” He hauled his sexy ass toward my ensuite, leaving me to take the call.
“Hey, Micah.”
“Orina. Are you okay?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I heard there was some kind of personnel audit being done, and I hadn’t heard from you. It’s protocol for me to be checking in so…just ticking a box.”
Protocol…shit. “Actually, I have to leave Dracul territory for a couple of days.”
His tone sharpened. “What? Where and why?”
He was going to find out soon enough when Hemlock and the mageri pressed the Order. “Do you know about the Isle?”
He was silent long enough for me to deduce that he did, but he was trying to gauge how much I knew.
I decided to make it easier for him. “I know there are witches there.”
“How can you know?”
“Because it turns out I was born there.”
No one saida word in the sitting room when Ordell and I walked in together, but the looks on their faces spoke volumes.
They knew what we’d been up to.
Lorenzo was on the balcony on his phone. I grabbed coffee then joined him. It was overcast and dull outside, but the air was crisp and clean, giving my body the wakeup that great sex and a shower had been unable to.
If Lorenzo had heard anything, he didn’t show it, holding a finger up to indicate that I wait a moment as he finished his call.
“Right…I understand…” he said into the phone. “That works for us. Thank you. Bye.”
“Everything okay?”
“Fine. A car will be picking us up in an hour to take us to our Rim transport.”
My stomach bubbled. “And we’ll be on the road for a day and a night?”
