Page 59 of A Warrior's Heart

I mumbled a response before walking faster. The desire to reach Malik was an unstoppable force that propelled me from a fast walk to a jog, then faster still. I had asked him before not to give up on me, and now I was the one who’d done the same to him.

I saw him up ahead, hand on the railing and face tilted toward the night sky. He turned as my feet pounded on the deck.

“Troy? What are—”

I threw my arms around his waist and buried my face against his chest. “I’m not giving up on you, Mal.”

“Giving up on me?” He slid a hand to the side of my neck as I looked up at him. “You’re crying.”

“Because of you, you impossibly stubborn and handsome fool.” I stood on my tip toes and wound my arms around his neck. Even still, I couldn’t reach his lips unless he bent to meet me. He was too tall. “I understand you’re afraid to love again. I understand you’re torn between duty and desire. But I’m not giving up on you. I am yours, and it matters not how much time it takes for you to—”

Malik kissed me.

When he lifted me from the deck, I sighed against his lips and wrapped my legs around him. He gripped my ass and gently pressed me against the mast as we kissed. Unlike the first two times, his kisses weren’t soft and slow. He kissed me deeply and growled low in his throat when I nibbled his bottom lip, pulling it between my teeth.

“I haven’t the strength to fight this anymore,” Malik said, breathless.

“Then don’t.” I slid my fingers through his short black hair.

Orange eyes searched mine before he captured my mouth in another heated kiss. My inexperience didn’t matter. When our lips joined, kissing him felt like second nature. And then he pushed his tongue into my mouth. Heat exploded inside my ribcage and shot to my groin.

I clung onto him and rolled my hips, needing… something.

“The gods are testing me,” Malik growled, tearing from my mouth.

“Are we going to have sex now?”

He laughed and dropped his head to my shoulder. “No, sweet boy. We’re not.”

“But I thought you were done fighting this—”

“I’m not pushing you away,” he said, meeting my gaze. I loved the way his orange eyes faintly glowed in the dark, just like the florescent plants I loved to touch back in Avalontis. “I’m done running from you.”

“So why don’t you want to bed me?” I asked.

Malik brushed his knuckle across my cheek, still holding me up with his other arm. “You misunderstand me. I’d love nothing more than to take you to my cabin right now and fuck you until dawn.”

The breath left my lungs, and as much as I hated to admit it, anxiety snaked through my veins. “What’s stopping you?”

“I refuse to take you until I know you trust me fully.”

“Idotrust you.”

Malik softly kissed me before placing me back on the deck.

I trusted him. But letting him see me—allof me—filled me with apprehension. The thought of being so exposed and vulnerable with another person took my mind to places I tried so hard to forget.

Commotion sounded from the port side of the ship. Alek, Lorcan, Fletcher, and Kellan walked up the gangplank, laughing about something.

“I’ll never go into a tavern again,” Lorcan said, the only one not amused.

“What happened?” Malik asked, on alert.

“A wench shoved her tits into the prince’s face,” Kellan said, his body rumbling with another laugh.

Malik relaxed and the deadly look in his eyes subsided. “Oh, is that all?”

“It’s your pretty silver hair,” I told my friend. “You’re unique. Can you blame her for trying?”