Page 18

“Come here.” I took her hand and propped myself against the table, pulling her to stand between my legs. “After…everything, I have things I’m not ready to face, I can admit it. A lot of things I don’t quite understand yet. And when those things press in, I need a distraction. I need to do something I’m good at.”

Marble rushing toward me…

A dagger piercing flesh and bone…

Blood, warm and cursed, slipping across my hand…

I blinked away the thoughts, gripping Ophelia’s hip to ground my racing heart. Here. I was here. Not in that haunted landscape.

She was safe.

I swallowed the fears. “There’s a high I feel when winning a hand, and it helps remind me what I’m capable of.”

Ophelia blinked slowly a few times, letting those words sink in and choosing her own carefully. “Thank you for being honest about it.”

It wasn’t what I expected her to say. I could tell there were questions bursting the seams of her mind. About my nightmares, about my childhood. She didn’t know how deeply it ran—I didn’t think I did either—but I didn’t know how to talk about those yet.

Before I could respond, she continued, “For every day I breathe, Tolek, I’m going to convince you how wrong your beliefs of yourself are. You’re so much more than you’ve been taught to see, and I wish to watch you realize it.”

Spirits, she saw straight past my words to the heart of the pain my father had caused. A pain I was still coming to terms with, yet she understood. The desire to kiss her was an ache in my chest. Spread along my body. I needed her.

Was she ready, though?

Her tongue flicked over her bottom lip, and I wanted it to be mine. She was pressing up onto her toes, hands braced against my chest. Each inch she leaned closer, my hand slid further around her back, pressing her to me.

The scent of lemon and jasmine washed over me. Fuck. I wanted to know what every inch of her tasted like.

No, I wanted to wipe this table clean and lie her down on it while I showed her exactly how much I missed her. To touch, taste, coax those decadent little moans out of her that had haunted my unconscious mind.

She pressed so close, it was evident how hard my cock was, and a gasp escaped her.

“Tol…” She exhaled.

Fuck it.

My lips were so close to hers, they brushed when I asked, “How do you feel about games, Alabath?”

I knew the answer. Knew this fucking girl better than myself.

Her breath fanned across my lips as she breathed, “Games?”

There was a teasing gleam in her eye. I knew that look. We’d challenged each other so many times in our lives, but this one was different. This one held a tinge of lust that told me she was hungry for this. For something between us that filled the void that had grown in her these months—something carefree and lively and ours.

“How do you feel about this?” I slowly walked around her, brushing her hair over one shoulder, making sure to let my fingertips ghost down her neck.

Ophelia shivered. “I love that.”

I ducked my head, lips against the shell of her ear, flicking my tongue out. “And this?” I hovered my mouth down her neck and grazed her collarbone with my teeth. It was a tease for both of us, the taste of her so close, but I couldn’t have it.

“Please,” she breathed, voice nearly cracking on a whimper as her fingers curled against the table. I smiled, resting my forehead against her temple.

“And if there are other people in the room?” I pressed a slow kiss to her jaw, moving back in front of her and drifting my lips to the corner of her mouth. Not kissing her. Not yet. “I can do this?”

At that question, her eyes snapped open. “I’m not keeping you a secret, Tolek,” she whispered against my jaw. “I’m not ashamed or hiding—if anything, it’s the opposite.”

I pulled back an inch, unsure what she meant by that.

Ophelia took a breath, steadying herself with her hands on my chest. “We should talk about this.”