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A puff of fog huffed from my mouth and nostrils. “About time. I was about to become hypothermic,” I quipped, fighting my smile.

Chrome held out his hand to help me exit the den. I accepted his aid because I was cramped and could barely move. With an easy tug, he guided me from the coyote hole, dusting the dirt that clung to my clothes.

“Sounds like you wanted me to catch you, little savage.”

I hadn’t realized how close we stood to one another as I lifted my head to come a breath away from his chest. Chrome’s molten eyes swirled with a heat that had me warming up from within. “Maybe I did.”

He took another step, closing the non-existent space between us, encircling an arm around my waist and pulling me against him. “You need to get warm.”

I couldn’t breathe, and the fogginess in my mind clouded any thoughts. I tilted my head to meet his heated eyes. And thoselips. He held me in an invisible chokehold solely by his overpowering gaze alone.

As if to put action to his words, he wrapped his other arm around me. One palm began a slow ascent up my back, followed by the slow trace of his calloused fingertips that grazed underneath my hair, his touch leaving a flaming path on my neck.

Tremors ran down my spine, which seemed to encourage him further. He brushed his fingers through the hair at the base of my head, where he latched onto a handful before giving it a gentle tug, forcing my eyes to stay locked on his. His thumb glided along my lower lip.

“I will always find you, Gray,” Chrome whispered. Somehow, we’d gravitated to the point where our lips nearly touched when he said, “No matter the realm. No matter if I’m Endarkened. I willalwaysfind you.”

Ever so tenderly, he captured my lips between his full ones. Sliding his hand to cradle the underside of my chin, he glided his tongue along mybottom lip before dipping inside to twine with mine at a languid and torturous pace.

I whimpered as he held me upright against his lean muscles. I melted for him, wholly his to command as he wished.

I needed to be closer to him. I neededmore. Rising to the tips of my toes, I cupped the back of his neck, closing any space between our bodies as he deepened the kiss.

The world seemed to spin around me, lost to the intensity of him. I bit his bottom lip, which elicited a growl. My legs weakened more, and my core tightened at the delicious sound.

Without breaking the kiss, he spun us around and pushed my back against the tree I’d been hiding under only a minute prior.

Our breaths clouded the surrounding air as we worked to breathe. “It’s been killing me to not be able to do this,” he said, his voice rough with need. He broke away from my mouth only to trail heated kisses from my jaw and down the column of my neck. His scent of sage and peppermint overwhelmed my senses, jumbling my thoughts.

Holyshit,that feels good.

Chrome pulled a moan from my throat by scraping his teeth against sensitive skin, teasing me.

I needed him inside me. Now.

His large palm caressed from my waist up to my ribcage, not stopping until my breast fit in his hand. “I bet you taste divine. Like my salvation.” His tongue whipped out, lapping up the front of my throat and then my chin, to where he took my lips in his mouth again. “I’m so fucking starved for you. I imagine once I start, I won’t stop until you’re trembling on my tongue.”

A roaring flame ignited my chest, overtaking my core. The timber in his voice delivering his erotic words had me squeezing my thighs, ready to bare it all.

The bitter cold air on my throat hit the moisture his tongue left behind, acting like frigid water dousing me from above. The sensation jolted me out of my body and back into my fucked-up brain.

“Wait. I can’t…” I said breathlessly, angling my head to the side as Slate’s face came swimming into my mind. The familiar twist of guilt crashed into me.

Chrome froze. Slowly, he stepped back, chest heaving and eyes burning with a desire that almost had me regretting drawing us to a halt. “Okay,” he managed, and the knot in his throat bobbed. “I’m sorry.” He took a step back. His warmth that had thawed me fled like heat in a poorly insulated house.

I wrapped my arms around my torso and looked down. “No, it’s not you. But—”

Chrome laid a tentative hand on my shoulder. A safe touch. “It’s okay, Gray. I understand.”

I let out a shaky breath. “I’m sorry.”

“What did I tell you about apologizing for that? You owe me nothing.”

I nodded, conceding to him, and beyond grateful for his respect and compassion. “Thank you.”

“Always.” Chrome offered me a reassuring smile. “Let’s head back and get you warmed up.”

“Yes, that sounds like a dream,” I groaned as I pushed off the tree and straightened my ruffled clothing, trying and failing to wipe the kiss from my brain.