Page 53 of Burning Secrets of a Lady's Pen
Like the culmination of every dream he had dared to have over the course of the last two years, she pressed back into him, running her hands up his chest as if to pull him closer as she all but melted into his embrace.
Corin allowed his hands to roam, his palms pressing down over the swells of her hips as he felt her shudder against him, and for a moment, he forgot where they were entirely.
All that existed was her smooth, warm skin against his and the feel of her body swaying further and further the longer he kissed her.
His tongue ran the inseam of her lips, the taste of her better than any aged brandy.
“Imelda,” he groaned into her skin as his hand swept down her dress-covered thigh, and he dared to wonder just how far he could go.
“Corin!”
It wasn’t her voice that uttered his name.
A slew of fireworks went off above them, the finale clear from all the cheering and applause from the other side of the hedges that they were hidden behind.
“Corin!”
Romeo yelled Corin’s name as if he had no sense of decorum, the slur behind it making it clear why he wouldn’t.
And Corin had never cursed his brother and their relation more than he did in that moment.
“Corin,” Imelda whispered, her voice still dazed as she took a half step back and blinked up at him.
Corin bit off a groan as he stepped back, his hands swift in righting her dress as he felt his jaw clench. He could hear Romeo off somewhere in the distance, blundering his way through the bushes. Threatening to call attention to where he stood, still too close to Imelda.
His thumb brushed the roundest part of her chin as he fought the urge to take her hand and just run further into the maze.
“We will finish this conversation,” Corin promised, the heat still lingering in his voice undeniable.
Imelda’s gaze shifted the quick look over her shoulder, confirming that she could hear his brother still calling him too.
“There’s another exit if you go that way,” Corin told her reluctantly, gesturing toward an opening to their left. “Two rights and then straight out.”
Imelda looked back to him again, some unsaid something flaring in her eyes before she nodded. “Later?” she asked breathlessly.
“As soon as possible,” Corin confirmed, his voice sure.
And then she was gone.
Like smoke between only partially parted curtains, she slipped away only moments before Romeo’s voice became near enough for it to actually be any worry.
“Corin!”
“Stop yelling!” Corin snapped, raising his voice just enough to lead his brother stumbling through the same entrance he had only just previously pulled Imelda through.
“Corin,” Romeo sighed, his voice catching and finally forcing Corin to look at him.
He was drunk, to be sure, though not so much so that the slurring made sense. His eyes were bloodshot, but not from any illicit substances. The tracks of water down either side of his face made it abundantly clear that it was crying that had made him so hoarse. And the way that he looked at Corin left him feeling like he had been socked right in the gut.
“Romeo?”
“Oh, I’ve really done it this time,” Romeo moaned, his shoulders shaking as he came to a stop just in front of Corin. “I’ve done something awful, Corin. I’ve done something beyond the pale, and now I’m afraid that the only price to pay is blood.”
Blood?
It was funny that it was the very thing that drained from Corin’s face as he took in Romeo’s appearance. Blood…and hope.
Chapter 19
