Page 68 of Kiss Across the Universe
“Youarescared,” Kit shot back. “You’ve been scared before. You’ve had enemies chase you before. You’ve grown up with enemies on all sides, so you hide it well. You keep a lid on it, so you can react with good judgement, which just means your family trained you well. But don’t tell me you’re not scared. You don’t know what Iron Grey wants from you. You can guess, but until you know what’s really going on, why he really wants you, so that you can respond appropriately, it’s gnawing at you, feeding your fear. And your family are all far away and all you have is me.” He paused. “You can’t help trying to find a way to tie me even closer.”
Alannah straightened, stunned. “That’s…insulting.” Her voice came out flat and hard.
Kit shrugged. “It’s survival, Alannah. You think I haven’t seen the extremes a human will go to, to survive?”
Her face was flushed and hot. “I’m going to sleep,” she said woodenly.
“Yes. Stay warm,” he said, his tone remote. “Don’t forget…I’ll have to sleep beside you. But that’s a survival thing, too.” Bleakness touched his voice.
Great. Alannah turned around and fought to straighten the sleeping bag from the ball she’d tossed it into, her movements jerky with anger and humiliation. Any lust she’d been feeling sat in a heap of dead cold ashes in the pit of her stomach, making her feel mildly nauseous.
Well, there was no danger of having her feelings run away on her now. Perhaps he’d deliberately riled her just to ensure she wouldn’t press the issue. It didn’t matter if he had. Perhaps she should even thank him for it. It would stop her from making a fool of herself because her hormones were taking over.
Survival instinct! She writhed mentally as she laid down with her back to the fire.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Alannah only realized she hadfallen asleep when she woke sometime later and found she was still shivering, but this time with cold.
The fire was nearly dead. Only deep orange coals remained from the biggest of the spindly branches, but there was a pile of sticks and twigs between the shelter and the fire that hadn’t been there when she’d gone to sleep.
Kit was beside her. He did not touch her anywhere along her length, but she could feel warmth radiating from him. He’d contrived to step over her and lay on the inner side of the shelter without disturbing her, for she had taken the outer edge of the mattress, closer to the fire.
Alannah brought her arm out from under the sleeping bag quilt and reached for the branches. They were close enough that she barely had to lean out to grab them and toss them on the coals. She put her hand on the ground and lifted herself up, then picked up and threwallthe wood on the fire, everything she could reach. Then she lay back down again, pulled the bag over her and shivered even harder.
The fire took its sluggish time breaking into flame once more and while it did, she could feel the cold creeping in under the edges of the bag.
Kit stirred and his arm came over her. He pulled her up against him, so that his length was lining her own. “Stay warm,” he breathed against her ear and pulled the sleeping bag farther over her so that the air could not slip under it.
Her shivering seemed to intensify against the warmth behind her. Right then, she welcomed his touch purely for the heat it supplied. Gradually, her shivers eased, then halted. By then, the fire was burning merrily once more.
She let out a sigh of relief and pleasure at the simple joy of being warm.
Then, inevitably, the pleasure changed. It became as heated as she, languid, so that it melted her limbs and made her core throb. She shifted under Kit’s arm, very aware of how her ass was pressing into him. She fought not to press backward even more, which would tell him far too much about her state of mind.
The need to roll over and face him—to kiss him!—it sang like a siren song in her mind, so that she couldn’t think of anything else.
But Kit’s ethics held her still, her heart beating way too hard, her body a throbbing mess.Think this through, Alannah, she told herself sternly.If you must do this, do it for the right reasons.
She steeled herself, trying to drop a shield over the demands of her body so she could think clearly. She knew, deep in her bones, that the next few minutes were critical, that whatever she did, it had to be adecision, not a knee jerk reaction. Kit, with his ethics and principals, deserved no less.
Alannah bit her lip, sorting out her thoughts, reaching for a solid decision. When she had it settled in her mind, she turned slowly under his arm until she was facing him. She could tell by his breathing that he was awake, even though his eyes were shut.
Instead of leaping upon him the way she badly wanted to, or fumbling an awkward kiss, she rested her hand on his cheek, her thumb by the corner of his mouth, which turned downward when he wasn’t smiling.
His eyes opened. He didn’t try to pretend he was dopy with sleep, which pleased her.
“This isn’t the way I want it to happen, either,” she said. “But it’s happening. It’s too strong.”
He was already motionless. No one could do stillness the way Kit could, not even the many vampire predators she knew. But he seemed to grow even more still. “Not the wayyouwant it to happen?”
She shook her head. “For you, I’d much rather take my time. Measure what I’m really feeling, because it’s mixed up. You might be right. Maybe I do need to just cling to someone. I won’t know, not until we’re back home and can get to know each other better, once we’ve dealt with Iron Grey. But I can’t wait that long.”
He moved. Slowly. He brushed her hair back from her eyes. “I guess…I can live with that. For now.”
Before she could say another word, his fingers slid into her hair and held her head steady while he kissed her.
This kiss was just as good as the first. Better, even. They were in agreement, temporarily at least, and there was no reason to not let the kiss extend for as long as it needed. His lips covered hers, the pressure almost cruel as he thrust his tongue and stroked the inside of her mouth.
