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I reached out and stroked her hair. “Verity, when we’re arguing. Elise, when we aren’t. Alena, when I cannot resist kissing you.” I waited, giving her time to step away. When she didn’t, I cupped her cheek and brought my lips to hers.
Like the two other times we’d kissed, I was nearly unmanned by how good, how right, it felt. Her mouth was like heaven, so soft and inviting. I snaked one arm around her waist, pulling her body flush with mine.
“Zeppelin,” she said, breaking our kiss, much to my disappointment.
“Call me Henry.”
“Henry,” she whispered as if she was seeing how my name felt spoken from her lips.
“What do you want to say to me?”
Rather than speak, she leaned up, reigniting the passion of the kiss she’d abruptly ended moments ago. Wanting to feel more of her body against mine, I maneuvered us to the bed, then lifted her in my arms before gently resting her on the thick blankets. With one knee on the mattress and one foot still on the floor, I waited for her to protest. She reached for me instead, and I lay beside her.
When she turned to face me, her eyes were dark with desire.
“Alena,” I repeated.
“Henry,” she said for the second time.
“I want you more than I dreamed possible.”
She bit her bottom lip, and I leaned in to run my tongue over it. Rather than take things any further sexually, I kissed her again and again. It seemed as though we’d spent hours, rather than minutes, “making out” before I rolled to my back and she rested her head above my heart.
I stared at the falling snow until it was almost dark, and when I heard the soft snores of the woman in my arms and felt her breathing even out, I allowed my eyes to close too.
11
VERITY
When I woke, it was dark outside and Zeppelin was stacking wood in the fireplace. Had I dreamed I’d fallen asleep in his arms after we’d spent what felt like hours kissing?
When he peered over his shoulder at me and smiled, I knew it hadn’t been a dream at all.
In my line of work, I faced danger on a regular basis, but nothing like this. There were many things on the line right now. My professional reputation. My role in this op. But mostly, my heart.
I was playing with fire when it came to Zeppelin. What he might consider innocent flirtation, taking advantage of the fact we were alone in the most romantic setting I’d ever been, wasn’t innocuous for me. I was already falling for the man who, two days ago, I couldn’t tolerate for the length of a single conversation.
No doubt, atête-à-têtesuch as ours was commonplace for him. Like I had before, although for an entirely different reason, I considered contacting Nemesis to ask to be reassigned. But what reason would I give? I could hardly suggest the attractionbetween Zep and me was one-sided. I could admit to being uncomfortable, but wasn’t that as much my own doing as his?
He stood but didn’t return to the bed. “Would you still like to go to the main lodge for dinner?”
I sat up. “I suppose we should.”
“Don’t do that.”
I cocked my head. “Do what?”
“Bite your lip. It makes me want to soothe it with my tongue.”
A shudder rippled through my body, stopping between my legs. “Zeppelin,” I whispered.
“Henry.”
I lay back down, dizzy with want for him. I turned my back to the middle of the bed when he lay beside me, nearly groaning when he wrapped his body around mine.
“Don’t do that,” he repeated.
“I wasn’t biting my lip.”