Part 23 (1/2)

He lowered his mouth to hers, pausing just long enough to whisper in her ear.

”No fair peeking inside my head. If you want to know what I'm feeling, just ask me. I'll show you.”

”Right now I've got all I can handle feeling my own feelings, thanks,” she said faintly.

He laughed against her mouth. ”Good. Then feel this.”

Chapter 12.

Archer only meant to indulge in his need to taste her before everything changed. He quickly realized he could not control his feelings, just as he realized he didn't give a d.a.m.n. Not this one last time. He shut out Baleweg's dire warnings and predictions and did what he wanted, took what he wanted.

Gave her what she wanted.He would stop, in just one more second. But right at that moment, she was making that soft moaning noise deep in her throat and he swore he felt every vibration of it throughout his entire body. He pulled her closer, groaning in satisfaction when she dug her long fingers into his hair. His hips found hers and his knees actually buckled slightly when she moved against him.

He gripped her tightly and made sure she understood exactly what she was

moving toward.”Archer-””Devin,” he corrected. For whatever reason, he had a need to set this moment apart from every moment he'd ever shared with anyone else.

”Devin.”

d.a.m.n, but just hearing her say it pushed him right to the edge. ”I want more.”

”So do I, but-”

He pulled her hard against him. ”Sweet Christ, Talia, you have me inside out.”

”I want you, too.” She looked up at him. ”What do we do with this, Devin?

There is so much ahead of us, we can't... really shouldn't-””Must,” he said, then his mouth was on hers again and she gave herself to him so sweetly, so gloriously, he was already planning where to take her when suddenly she managed to yank herself free.

”I can't think clearly like this.” She looked at him, her hair dancing about her

head in the night breeze like a wild fairy halo.

He felt empty with her gone from his arms. Surely if they'd take each other this aching need would dissipate, or at the very least become manageable enough that he could think straight again. ”Then let's get this out of our systems. Perhaps we'll both be able to think more clearly then.”

She looked away and he actually felt his heart catch a bit. There couldn't be more in this for her than he'd a.s.sumed, could there? No more than there is in this for you, his inner voice mocked him.

She looked back to him. ”Baleweg is inside. I don't know where else we can go.” She said it calmly, evenly, as if it were merely a physical matter, reducing their needs to animal l.u.s.t, something a good rutting would take care of.

And suddenly he despised himself for making her admit she was willing to take that if it was all he had to offer. But hadn't that been exactly what attracted him to her? That she wanted the same thing, nothing more? So why did he suddenly want to create a bower for her, something filled with rose petals and feather down or some romantic s.h.i.+t like that? Jesus, this was getting way too complicated.

And yet he looked at her standing there, wanting him badly enough to take what little he offered, and his need for her almost drove him to his knees. He was willing to give her whatever it took to satisfy her. To make her smile up at

him. To see the satisfied look in her eyes and know he'd been the one to put it there.

G.o.dd.a.m.n, but his head hurt.

”We can't do this,” he muttered.”What?” She looked at him as if he'd lost his mind. And maybe he had. Because he was actually thinking about doing what he should have done ten minutes ago. Walk away, leave her be. Not... complicating everything. Despite the fact that they both wanted to complicate things so badly that the air all but pulsed with it.

She stepped close to him and he wasn't sure whether to laugh at the fierce determination in her eyes, or rip his hair out because he'd already decided that they couldn't do this. For both their sakes.

”What do you mean we can't do this?”

”We just shouldn't,” he said, hating himself. ”As you said, this will only

complicate things. It's not because I don't want you. G.o.d knows I'm so hard with wanting you I can barely stand upright.”

Her eyes widened and her throat worked and he almost caved in. Having a

conscience was a pain in the a.s.s. Probably why he'd never worked too hard on

developing one. And hadn't he picked a fine time to start?

”If you think I'm going to go attaching all sorts of emotional obligations to this, you're wrong,” she said.