Page 89 of Fanged Embrace

“It’s not the most reliable gift. It’s more like—pop-ups in my brain. Out-of-order snippets of events that could unfold.” River’s smile tilted, wry and wary. “You know, just… stuff and things.”

I deadpanned at her jumbled explanation. “Stuff and things?”

She waved a dismissive hand and sank back on the sofa. “I’m an empath, not a poet.”

“You’re insufferable,” I grumbled at the floor, then scraped my brain for a better word. “Incorrigible, in fact.”

“Ooh, fancy word.” River grinned back at me and poked at my ribs with one finger.

I rolled my eyes. “No it’s not.”

“It is for someone whose vocabulary is usually limited to ‘bitch’, ‘fuck’ and occasionally ‘goddammit.’” She parroted my voice with irritating accuracy and I shot a glare in her direction.

“Yeah, well.” I jerked back into the sofa cushions beside her with my arms folded tight. “You annoy me enough to bust out the four-syllable insults.”

“Hmm.” River’s grin turned mischievous and she nudged me with an elbow. “You must really like me to put so much effort into your insults.”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” I shot back, though my lips twitched. “I save the five-syllable ones for special occasions.”

“Uh-huh.” She eased sideways, knee brushing up against mine. “Occasions like last night? You were busting out some pretty impressive statements while my fingers were?—”

I hacked out a cough, heat streaking my cheeks a blazing red. “We don’t need to talk about that.”

“I think we do.” River purred the words into my ear and I could have caved right then and there if she hadn’t followed it up with more teasing. “I mean, I’ve heard you raise your voice before but I was really worried you were going to break a window at the rate you were?—”

I smacked her thigh and she caught my wrist, grinning like I’d handed her a bouquet. The grin softened when our eyes locked, and suddenly the room felt smaller, quieter.

“About last night…” She lowered our joined hands, thumb stroking my pulse point. Suddenly serious. Somber. I experienced a full cranial meltdown at the intensity in her eyes.

“We… uh.” My words evaporated. My heart galloped so hard I expected her empath gift to demand I pay for the damages.

Her smile gentled. “Before, or I guess,ifanything else happens. I want to know where we stand.”

I was too busy drowning in her pupils to register the question. “Huh?”

Her smile tilted, bittersweet. “Last night we crossed a line—I just want to be sure you crossed it with eyes open.”

The memory of silk sheets and gasping breaths flashed hot in my head. I should have been backing away, or at the very least probing her on her prescience. I wanted to know what she saw in my future—if she saw a future for me at all. Ishould have been berating her for sacrificing her sleep for my sake.

But I also wanted to put my problems aside for a moment, and sink into her arms like I did the night before. I wanted to kiss her again. I wanted to hold her and be held in return, even if it was temporary.

I forced my leaden tongue to move and my voice came out strained and hoarse. “My eyes were wide open.”

“Well… Good.” Her tone dropped, velvet over fangs. “Because I haven’t stopped thinking about the way you sounded when you?—”

I lunged first, kissing her hard enough to halt her mid-sentence. She laughed into my mouth, fingers sliding into my hair as my knees bracketed her thighs. The sofa creaked; koi rippled in the pond like gossiping neighbors.

I shifted, pressing her deeper into the cushions, and whispered against her lips, “Are you still reading my aura?”

“Mmm,” she hummed against my mouth. Her pupils dilated to engulf her irises. “Are you still interested in letting me in?’”

I answered by nipping her lower lip, earning a growl that reverberated through both of us. Our hands roamed—her cool palms skimming under my shirt while my fingertips mapped the slope of her collarbone.

When breathing became necessary we parted an inch, and River’s thumb stroked my jaw, her smile softer now. “We can go slow,” she offered, ever the caretaker.

I didn’t want to go slow. I wanted to rush her at breakneck speed before I ran out of time. Before the stopwatch in my head, the one that held all of my anxiety and reservations at bay, ticked down to zero. Before our time together ended for good.

I leaned forward, straddling her lap and crushed my mouth to hers again. “I don’t want to go slow.”