Page 88 of Storm of Fury
He would have to settle for this. One night to earn her trust and prove himself the man she wouldn’t let herself believe in.
“Then you have nothing to be afraid of, Bryn.” Tormund’s thumb settled in the indentation of her bottom lip. She bit him sharply, as if in warning, then paused, her full mouth suckling at the tip of his thumb.
Fuck. His balls tightened, and blood rushed to his groin.
“One night then,” she whispered. “One night for us to forget this madness. And then we’re done. Truly done.”
Dangerous lightning-lashed eyes met his. Bryn tipped the tankard to her lips and drained it, but she never looked away. Slowly, she set the tankard down.
He wanted to give her a wolfish smile, but he was playing for more than merely one night, though she couldn’t know that just yet. “Where’s the key to your room?”
* * *
Bryn slowly climbedthe stairs to her room, feeling every inch of Tormund’s looming presence behind her. She’d never been so aware of a man. And maybe that was why this already felt like a mistake.
Because she didn’t mix emotions with pleasure.
She didn’t stay longer than one night.
And she never, ever, let herself care.
But in the niggling little hole where her heart had once lain, she could feel regret already building. It was already too late. She liked this rough-voiced giant. In another world, if she wasn’t who she was, she might have even grown to like him a little too much.
“Tormund,” she whispered, pausing in front of her door.
He must have sensed her doubt, for he swept her braid over her shoulder, revealing the expanse of her neck. “Mmmm?”
Bryn shivered as gentle lips brushed against her sensitive skin. “Maybe we shouldn’t do this?”
“No?” The vibration of the word rumbled through her chest, and she felt hands caress down the side of her waist before they slid up over the curve of her abdomen.
They hovered there, just beneath her breasts, and Bryn bit her lip, waiting, desperately, for them to move.
“I don’t know,” she whispered.
“Why not?” The stir of his breath made every inch of her skin prickle. His thumbs teased the soft underside of her breasts. “Give me one good reason why we shouldn’t do this? You want it. I want it. Don’t tell me you’re afraid to let me touch you?”
He knew why she hesitated.
Her heart beat faster.
“Not afraid, no.”
Touch me. Please.
She couldn’t say the words.
But he’d never taken more than she would give. Cursing herself for a fool, she let her head tilt to the side, a sign of unmistaken surrender.
And his lips found the skin there, teeth raking down the corded muscle in the side of her throat. A moan escaped her. Her hands hit the door in front of her in a desperate attempt to hold firm against his sensual onslaught.
But he paused there, waiting for her, his breath steaming the side of her throat. “Yes? Or no? Because your body’s saying one thing, but your mouth is saying another. And I already told you…. I’m not that kind of man.”
Bryn rested her forehead against the door, breathing hard. She didn’t know why this was so difficult.
Maybe because you know this means something.
He must have sensed her hesitation, because he withdrew subtly, but she caught at his fingers, until they were barely linked. “Yes. It’s a yes.”
