Page 86 of Lost Lyrebird

My heart stutters.I’m torn between pushing him away and pulling him closer.I know what I should do.“I can’t think when you’re this close.”It’s the truth too.His nearness scrambles my goddamn brain.

His smile is dangerous and indecent.“I think today you’ve been more honest with me than ever before.Keep going, and I just might figure you out.”

His words are light, but the intensity between us is anything but.

“I doubt that,” I whisper.“I’m more complicated than you think.”

“Maybe.But I fucking love your kind of complicated, woman.”

My fingers curl into the leather of his cut.I grip it with both hands and do what I shouldn’t.I pull him closer, raise onto my tippytoes, and kiss him.

It’s a soft kiss, an exploration.He deepens it, but there’s tenderness there too.Our tongues stroke and play for a moment before he lightly places a chokehold on my neck, sending a thrill through me.

I snake one hand into his long hair as he lifts me, pressing me against the wall, and grinds his lower body into mine.

Heat floods into my core as I ride the ridge of his cock.

Suddenly, he lets go.My feet drop back to the ground as he yanks back and hisses.“Fuck.”His hand comes up to place a fist over his eye.

“Are you all right?”I ask and touch his shoulder with concern.

“Son of a bitch!”He shakes his head.“No, just give me a moment.”The words are harsh.I let my hand drop from his arm.His jaw muscles clench, and he takes a couple of deep breaths.

“What’s wrong?”

He stumbles slightly and plants one hand on the wall to steady himself.“Why the hell is it so much worse when I’m around you?”

Panic grips my chest.“What?”

He straightens, turns, and leans his back against the stucco.His eyes open, and his face twists with a grimace.“It’s like this shit has been escalating ever since you showed up.Coincidence or is there something you’re not telling me?”

“What do you mean?”is what I go with.The lie, my default.It’s what I know.What comes easily.

He stares hard.It’s not kind or anything like the look he was giving me before.It’s probing.There’s disbelief written all over his features.

“You have no idea what I’m talking about?”

“No.”

“No?”

I shake my head.

“Ever since you showed up, my migraines have gotten worse.There are things, memories that come back to me at certain times that seem to connect.”

My insides are rioting, but I do my best to keep my expression blank.“Like what?”

“Like now, when you said my name, and that night with the cat.And sometimes… sometimes when you dance, it triggers a reaction.It’s like seeing or hearing certain things unlocks something in my head, and suddenly I can see a past that’s been out of reach for me until now.That has to mean something.”

He stares at me for a long time.

Containing the whirlwind of thoughts and emotions his statement stirs up takes great effort on my part, because I’m warring with myself.My fight-or-flight instinct is running rampant.“I’m sorry.I don’t know why it’s happening.”

“The thing is, Lily, there’s something behind those eyes of yours.Something you’re not telling me.Something you don’t want me to know.I can see it when you look at me.”

This has me floundering for a response.My mouth opens, but nothing comes out.

“Tell me it’s nothing.”