Page 25 of Peregrine's Call
“Oh.” Robin knew she ought to say more. Something intelligent, something inviting. But all she could think wasyes, I want that too.
“But I won’t do anything,” he said with what Robin assumed to be reassurance.
“Wait,” she countered. “I want you to.”
Octavian’s fingers grazed her cheek. “Not a good idea.”
“I want to know what it feels like, though,” she confessed.
“You’ve been kissed before.”
“Not…not the way I think you mean,” she said. Mortifying. Admitting that she was almost completely ignorant of such things.
“Never?”
There’d been stolen kisses from time to time, usually from young men who thought Robin was just being coy when she refused their advances. She always shoved them away the moment they thought they’d won her over.
She didn’t want to shove Octavian away. She wanted to pull him closer. “There was never anyone who I quite…” She trailed off, uncertain how to convince him. “I just want to know how it feels. Please.”
He said something in a language she didn’t know, a quiet phrase that could have been anything from a warning to a promise.
Then Robin felt a jolt when his mouth covered hers. Any thought of being tired fled, chased by the surge of heat in her belly. His lips brushed against her own, then lingered there, and she actually felt faint. Was she falling?
No. Somehow, she’d ended up in his arms, cradled against him as the kiss continued to melt her. She rested her hands on his shoulders, feeling the strength of the muscles underneath. She’d always laughed at the other girls who went moon-eyed over the strongest men at Cleobury. But now she was doing the same thing every time she saw or felt Octavian.
All this tumult from a simple kiss. Robin felt as if she were ice melting into water, warmed just by his mouth on hers. She sighed, and then let out a little unexpected whimper as Tav tightened his arms around her.
A log snapped in the fireplace, and an ember flew out onto the hearth. Robin and Octavian broke apart. She sat up again, her hands shaking from the intensity of the kiss.
Robin reached out and brushed the ember back toward the fireplace, lest it spark a more disastrous flame. As if there could be any flame more disastrous than what just occurred between her and Tav. Then she looked back at him. “Tav…may I call you Tav?”
Unexpectedly, he smiled, making her heart pound uncontrollably. “Yes.”
“We…we should not do this again.”
“We’d both regret it.”
“I don’t regret it,” she said. “But you’re correct about it making life more difficult.”
“You’re the one who decided to follow me.”
“Not for this!” She never planned on throwing herself at him.
“I know that, Robin.” Despite everything they’d just discussed, Tav leaned closer. His breath merged with hers as they both hesitated to confess their desires.
Then Robin reached out to curl her hand around his shoulder, bringing him closer. “One more kiss. Please?” she asked.
“We shouldn’t.” He ran his thumb along her lower lip, and something about the sensation made Robin weak in hertoes. How could a simple touch do that?
She opened her mouth, and after a second’s hesitation, she licked the pad of his thumb.
Tav inhaled in surprise, and then bent his head to kiss her. This kiss was deeper, far more dangerous than the first. She gasped when his tongue touched hers and felt the heat of the kiss tumble down into her belly.
More.More of this wondrous, warm feeling, of having Octavian so very close to her, skin to skin.
I would do anything for you, she thought dreamily. She’d let him keep kissing her. She’d let him touch her, strip her clothing off, lay her down. She’d happily obey every little command, just to be so close to him and feel this swirl of joy in her heart.
Dear Lord, what’s wrong with me?Robin’s mind recoiled from the unfamiliar thoughts. She’d never granted any man such power over her. Why was she losing her sanity just because Tav kissed her?
