Page 17 of The Warlord's Wildflower
“I didn’t mean to trap you or scare you. But, Annie—” My voice drops, rough with the truth I’ve been choking on for months. “You’re all I think about. The way you hum when you’re nervous. How you bite your lip when you’re concentrating. That fuckingribbonyou didn’t give me—” A ragged laugh. “I’ve never wanted anything like I want you. And if that’s not what you want? Tell me now. I’ll go back in there and undo it and make a fool of myself in front of the entire tribe.”
She finally lifts her head to look at me, andfuck. She's tear-streaked, flushed, angry, and still the most breathtaking thing I’ve ever seen.
“Say something,” I beg her. “Please.”
She glares up at me and Stars, I stop breathing.
Her dark eyes are wet with tears, but they’reburning. A wildfire in a girl who’s spent her whole life being told she was made of embers. Her chin trembles, and she lifts it. Her shoulders square, fists clench, and, for the first time since I met her, Annie isn’t hiding.
She’s furious.
At me.
“You don’t evenknowme!”
Her voice cracks me like a whip, hitting me directly in the heart, butGods, it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard.
Her curls are a storm around her face. Her chest heaves under that thin dress, and I can see the rapid flutter of her pulse at her throat. That delicate,fragilethroat I’ve imagined biting a hundred times. Her lips…fuck, her pouty lips are pulled back in a sneer. She's somadat me, I could die happy right here.
“You should have come to me first!” she shouts, and my cock twitches like I’m some green Calf who’s never been scolded. “You just—justdecidedin front of everyone! Like, I don’t even get a choice in the matter!”
I should apologize. Grovel. Beg for her forgiveness.
But all I can think about is howbadly I want to rut her.
Not like this….not angry. When that fire turns to something else and she’s panting beneath me, those big eyes gone hazy, those perfect lips swollen from my mouth. I want to hear her moan my name like a prayer. I want to see if her skin tastes as sweet as it looks.
Fuck, I’m hard just thinking about it.
I rise slowly to my knees, careful not to crowd her. My heart’s hammering so fast I’m lightheaded. There’s heat in my throat, my chest, myblood—because this girl, thisangel, who usually flinches at raised voices, is staring me down like she’d carve out my heart if I gave her the knife.
“I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness,” I say, voice rough. “But you’re wrong, Annie.”
She glares at me.
“Idoknow you.” I inch closer, drinking in the way her breath hitches. “I know you once patched up a bluebird with a broken wing. I know you sing when you think no one’s listening. That you bite your lip when you’re nervous—just like you’re doing right now.”
Her teeth release that plush lower lip.Damn it.
“And I know,” I murmur, closing the last bit of distance between us, “that I’ve never wanted anything as badly as I want you.”
Her eyes widen, and I want to kiss her. My hands shake with the effort of not grabbing her.
“Tell me to stop,” I breathe. “Tell me to walk away, and I will.”
She doesn’t, and I thank every fucking Star in the sky.
When my mouth crashes into hers, it’sworship. Her lips are softer than anything I’ve ever touched. She tastes like honey and summer rain, and the little noise she makes…Gods, that little noise nearly has me coming in my leathers.
I pull back before I lose control, resting my forehead against hers. My voice is wrecked. “I’ll wait, Annie. As long as it takes. Just… don’t hate me.”
Her fingers curl into my tunic.
“I couldn't hate you,” she whispers back.
Victory.
The second her lips meet mine again, it’s like setting fire to my blood. I devour her. My tongue claims her mouth, and she moans, the vibration of it searing through me. I crush her against my chest, one hand fisted in her hair, the other gripping her ass hard enough to bruise.
