“Is this your first kiss?” I asked.
Rowan’s hand slid to my nape, and he played with my hair. “Yes.”
“Are you a virgin?” Okay, I couldn’t handle a third shock wave. It would send me into cardiac arrest.
“What? Of course I’m not.” He made that frustrated sound again before drawing back from me. “I’ve fucked countless times. I’ve just never done…” His voice quieted. “That.”
One of his layers had been pulled back, and I saw more of him. The real him. I knew right then he felt the same thing I did. This deep attraction that tethered us together, growing stronger with each smart-ass remark or smirk. The intensity of that feeling was what scared him.
“Ah. I see.” I touched his hand, running my fingertips along his knuckles. “So you’ve had sex but never let any of them kiss you?”
“Kissing, cuddling, pillow talk, all of that’s pointless.” Rowan upturned his hand, and a tender expression took him over as I slid my palm across his. “Sex is strictly physical for me. I never do it while facing them. It’s always from behind. I rarely know a thing about them either. That’s how I prefer it.”
“No forming attachments, right?” I linked our fingers.
“Right.” His eyes lifted to mine. “Then I met you.”
My heart skipped a beat. “Nothing says ‘be mine’ quite like a kidnapping.”
Rowan grinned. “Well, Iama thief.” He used our joined hands to bring me closer. “And you’re one of a kind, little treasure.”
“Eh, I’m nothing special.”
His grin vanished, leaving behind something achingly tender. “You are to me.”
“About what you said earlier…” I touched the gold cuff that kept his hair pulled to the side. “I can’t cut you out either. I don’t want to. I know it’s hard to trust people. Even harder to let them close to your heart. But I won’t hurt you. I—”
Rowan cupped my cheek and pressed our lips together again.
Standing so close in height, our mouths met easily. Just like it’d been with my other men, my blood heated with the physical connection, turning electric in my veins, as though a bolt of lightning had struck my heart.
I returned the kiss, going slow at first to let him get accustomed to it. Apparently, I went too slow.
He made a sexy raspy sound before burying his fingers in my hair and deepening the kiss, kissing me so good my head spun. As his tongue swept across mine, I tasted spice and the remnants of honey mead. I wanted more of his taste. More ofhim.
“You’re making my head spin,” he murmured against my lips. “I think you were right. The apple you ate in the dark wood turned you into a demon.”
“Oh my god, stop.” I rested our heads together as I laughed. “You’re an asshole.”
I felt him smile as he brushed another kiss to my lips.
“Does it upset you that I’m with other men?” I asked as the familiar cloud of guilt swarmed in my chest. “I got so jealous over that barmaid, but I’m the one who—”
“You were with them long before I came along.” Rowan clutched my hand in his and placed his other at my lower back, holding me flush against him. “As irritating as I find them all to be, especially that brute of a captain… I have to admit how much it turned me on seeing them fuck you.”
Oh shit.
The clatter of boots echoed from around the corner. Rowan narrowed his eyes as Callum and Duke came into view, Ban not far behind them.
“There you are,” Callum said, visibly relieved. “We’ve been looking all over. Why did you run away like that? You gave me quite the fright, Ev.”
“I’m sorry.” And I was. I hated making him worry. “I was just being dramatic. I’m better now.”
Much better.
Duke cleared his throat and nudged Callum’s side, moving a finger between me and Rowan. “We seem to be interrupting.”
“You are,” Rowan said.
