I shivered. Hearing him sayIvymade me crazy. I rather loved the fairy queen moniker, but there was something about his accent and my name. A low rolling timber of music. I had always thought my name was old-fashioned, but it sounded lyrical on his tongue.
“Say it again.”
His eyebrow shot up. “That you’re near jailbait?”
I nipped his scruffy chin. “My name, sir.”
“Oh, is that what you’re after?” His accent got a little thicker. “Are you looking for this, my fairy queen?”
I rolled my lips behind my teeth with a soft groan. “Is it so wrong to enjoy your accent?”
“All you American ladies do seem to get off on it.”
It was my turn for an eyebrow raise. “I’m not just one of your American chick hookups.”
“Aren’t you though?”
I kicked his boot.
He laughed and curled tighter around me. “No, Ivy Beck, there’s been nothing and no one like you before. Or will be after, I’d wager.”
Before I could unpack that compliment or statement or whatever it was, he dragged me back into the whirling sensations of his kiss. He rocked against me as he took my mouth into a long, slow turn of lips and tongue. He kissed me like he’d been doing it for years, not for less than an hour.
Thoughtful and restless with just the lightest hint of…more.I couldn’t put my finger on what, but I chased it. Consuming and overwhelming, his taste burned my tongue and seared into my memories. He brought his hands up to cup my face and hold me there for him to plunder and own.
I shivered at each dip of his tongue and roll of his hips against me. My nails dug into his sides to ground myself, because I wanted to hold onto this moment and not think about the future, just live in the now. Tomorrow would be coming soon enough.
My heart raced as I went onto my toes to get closer to him even as he was backing up.
“Room.” He swallowed as if he was trying to find oxygen. “I need you under me.”
“Yes.”
He walked backwards down the hall, watching me the entire time. His seductive eyes drew me forward, but the low light of the hallway didn’t give anything away. Was he thinking about how quickly he could get me naked? It seemed like it was so much more than that.
Silly. It was just because we were alone and worked up. Nothing more.
He stopped at a door with sunflowers and a tiny family of sparrows nestled into a wreath. That was me, the sparrow that was used to doing her job, staying in the safe confines of her world.
Mercy, I was getting fanciful.
Maybe it was the wildness of the moment. The way he touched me like he couldn’t stop. But it was just a moment.
And that was all this could be. It was enough. It had to be.
He opened the door and flicked on the light then turned to me with his hand outstretched.
I told myself that again and again as I put my hand in his and let him lead me into the softly lit room. The fire was going, flames licking up from a wash of colorless, glittering stones. This room wasn’t as cozy as I’d been expecting.
It was cool and modern with touches of the sunflower on the door to warm it up. It suited the situation. Pretty lies wrapped over cool perfection. Neither one of us were bringing our truths. We’d just found a connection to hold onto.
It had been so long since I’d felt an instant connection with someone. I’d been working toward my future for so long, I forgot to look at the now.
I turned to Rory. His blue eyes were full of heat—for me. It seemed so overwhelming and alien, exciting and incomprehensible. My fingers trembled a little as I unzipped my vest, tossing it on the warm yellow chair in the corner. Rory’s gaze never wavered even as I slowly tugged the end of one of my braids free.
He walked toward me, the bulge in his jeans still as impressive as it felt against me in the hall. But there was no hurry in his step. All the rushing seemed to have been left outside these doors.
He drew me deeper into the room toward the fire. My fingers weren’t trembling from cold, but it was sweet that he thought so.