Page 132

Our day together had been perfectly platonic. We hadn’t kissed, held hands, or exchanged sexual innuendos; we’d simply been two friends enjoying each other’s company.

But now that we were alone, away from the bustle of the city and the company of crowds, a latent spark of awareness flared to life.

The wooden steps creaked beneath our combined weight. The staircase was so narrow we couldn’t move without bumping into each other.

My heart slowed beneath the weight of our proximity. He towered to my left; the wall hemmed me in on the right. Yet his body seemed even more solid and immovable than stone.

Vuk’s hand brushed mine when we reached the second-floor landing. The hairs on my nape prickled. It was an innocent touch, but the promise of something more danced in the air.

We stopped outside my bedroom. It was so quiet I could count the thuds of every heartbeat.

“Thanks for letting me drag you around the city today,” I said. “Happy birthday and, um, good night.”

Thebirthdaypart slipped out before I could stop it.Shit. I winced again, hoping I hadn’t ruined the night with my slip-up.

Fortunately, Vuk didn’t appear upset by the reminder. He dipped his chin, his face inscrutable in the darkness. “Good night.”

A beat passed. He didn’t move, and my pulse skyrocketed. This was it. He was going to?—

Walk away and disappear into the guest room.

My chest deflated when the door shut behind him. I followed suit, kicking my door closed and flopping onto my bed with a sigh.

“I’m such an idiot,” I muttered.

I turned my head to check the time. It was only a quarter to nine. In hindsight, I could’ve suggested we stay downstairs and play a game or something, but it was too late for that. If I sought him out now, it would be too obvious.

Like buying him freaking cologne isn’t obvious.That was the type of gift you received from a girlfriend, not a friend—a friend who happened to possess intimate knowledge of the way his kisses tasted and his touches felt.

A full-body flush consumed me. I’d done a good job of pushing our hotel room tryst to the back of my mind given everything that’d happened since then, but the memory resurfaced with sudden, staggering intensity.

The hand curled around my throat. The weight of his body pinning mine against the glass. The?—

A knock startled me out of my filthy reminiscence.

I bolted upright, my heart rate accelerating again. Heaviness gathered between my thighs.

I stared at the door, frozen, until another knock brought my feet to the floor and across the room.

Obviously, it was Vuk. It couldn’t be anyone else, but that didn’t stop a sliver of pleasant surprise from piercing my chest when I flung open the door and found him standing a foot away.

Like me, he hadn’t changed out of the outfit he’d worn all day. A black T-shirt stretched across the width of his shoulders; black pants hinted at the solid muscles underneath. Piercing blue eyes glided over my face with a tingle of heat.

“There’s three hours left of my birthday.” Soft, so soft the words were a shadow of a whisper.

I merely nodded in return.

I couldn’t speak. I could barely breathe. The air was so thick I was afraid any errant noise on my part would send it crumbling to pieces around us.

“I was about to go to sleep when I realized I forgot something.” His tone was impassive, but his eyes—his eyes burned so hot anddeep, I felt it in my bones.

My toes curled. The heaviness between my thighs throbbed, and I scrounged up a reply from somewhere in my throat. “What’s that?”

My breathless response earned me a dark smile. I was acutely aware of how flimsy the physical barrier between us was—nothing more than a few inches of space and even fewer heartbeats, closable with one decisive step.

“This.” That rough, single word was my only warning before he gripped the back of my neck and smashed that barrier to smithereens.

His lips claimed mine, and my mind blanked, the commanding pressure of his kiss dragging me under to a place where oxygen didn’t exist. My blood turned to molten lava, but my nipples pebbled like I’d plunged headfirst into a lake of ice. The contrast of hot and cold set off a series of mini fireworks across my skin.