Page 64 of Stealing the Star Stone
A punchbowl waterfall
All out of faith.
Day Three.
Witheachsecondthatpassed, Nova could breathe a little easier.She’d never kick a man between the legs again.Well, maybe if she wanted him incapacitated so she could run away.Her groin was in excruciating agony.She tried to stand, to assess their surroundings, but could barely rock onto her knees.
“That was a dick move,” she hissed.
“You were supposed to leap, not fall.”He set the bag against a wall under a canopy of rock—a good place to spend the night.
She tried not to dwell on his warning.The idea of sharing warmth with him made her skin tingle, and her balls twinge, or was that the residual pain leaving her body?Damn, she hoped so, but the sane part of her knew it wasn’t.
He peeled off his coat and sprawled on a nearby boulder to dry.
She shivered, four times drenched, once covered in mud.At least she was clean.Not much of a consolation as cold as she was.She’d started to dry after finding the star stone, her damp jeans chaffing her inner thighs.
Now, as she stood there, watching him reveal every inch of a body she knew too well, aches began to register.Her thigh, a hip, and a shoulder burned, no doubt bruised from hitting those rocks.
“Want a bottle of water and a protein bar?”he asked, digging in the bag.He was naked, his almond-toned skin glowing as the light faded.Chunks of hair stood on end, almost sheared off at the scalp.Why hadn’t she noticed that before?
A muted yellow light rose from the pool, at the bottom slithered the eels and tiny green fish.
She stripped, splaying out her coat beside his.Boots, socks, jeans followed, then she marched into the orange water and floated.
He came to the edge and watched her, the underside of his breasts painted an eerie blue.
“Eels heal,” she said, catching her breath when one nudged her chin in passing.
“Well, that explains this.”He waved his bite-marked arm.“In the excitement, I forgot about the numbing pain.Only realized as I undressed that I was fine.”
“Scarred, though.Healed Orien’s knife wounds too.”Itwasher body that showed the brunt of their adventures, but she wasn’t angry.They’d survived, had a stone, and might live to find another.“Let me know when they swim away.”
The sky was littered with stars.No light pollution diminished the full impact of their magnificence.It was a scene she wasn’t familiar with.
Here, a shattered submoon arched across the sky.And not a single satellite pretended to be a shooting star.
“They’re done,” Eli said.
She swam to shore and walked out, accepting the offered bottle of water and protein bar.As cold as she was, she sat on the rock and leaned her back against the wall.Only time would dry her.As to warmth, that would come as soon as they settled down for the night.
As she ate, she tried not to notice his taut nipples, the curve of a hip, the soft-yet-muscled thighs.Nor did she want to dwell on their almost-kiss.Like she’d stated, it didn’t count.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you…” He glanced at her, then at the stars.“Have you been experiencing something odd, like sensing my emotions?”
She shifted then found the same spot because it was a little warmer than the rock around it.“Yes.”
A slow smile formed.“Phew.Was worried I was losing my mind.”
“Must be a side effect of this.”She flashed the blue tattoo crawling past her inner elbow.Day four’s symbol would appear soon.
Capping the bottle and shoving the empty wrapper into the bag, she spread her thighs, shivering at exposing herself to a breeze.She tapped the ground between her legs.“I’m thinking you sit here, and warm my front while I warm your back.Let’s hope our clothes dry soon.”
He swiveled, thrusting his ass in her face, before he sat.“Watch your balls,” he said, shuffling back.
Sighing, she cupped them until he leaned back.She slipped her arms around him, one across the collarbone, the other under his breasts, and pulled him closer until they were flush.
A sweet moan escaped him.“I didn’t realize how cold I was.”
