She wanted him to kiss her.
The thoughts kept dropping into her mind like money into a piggy bank. She wanted him to press his lips to hers.
The knowledge sparked her like an arrow to the heart.
It was completely inappropriate for her to feel like that! Will was taking care of her because Kiral had asked him to. And he’d only just confided in her that he’d been married; that his wife had died tragically. How could she lurch from that conversation to this sense of desperate, aching need?
And yet, beneath her hands, she could feel his chest thumping hard and fast, just like hers. He hadn’t been running. And no one’s heart raced like that as a matter of course.
Was it possible that he was affected by her closeness as she was his?
“Lilah …” He murmured her name almost as a plea. She studied his face absentmindedly, noting the muscle that jerked in his cheek as though he was keeping a rein on his emotions with effort.
Her breath hitched in her throat. Vulnerability scored marks across her heart. The wind whistled outside the cabin but neither of them heard it. Only the rushing of their blood and the pounding of their hearts was palpable.
He lifted a hand and placed it over one of hers. She was so fine-boned and soft. He felt everything in his body tighten. How long had it been since he’d wanted a woman like this?
He couldn’t remember. His chest heaved with the effort of not kissing her. He knew he should put some distance between them, but standing like this, so close to her, he felt a spark of life that he had presumed permanently erased.
Her skin was flawless. As though it had been painted on by angels in heaven. He wanted to lift his hand to her cheek and to grip her gently. He wanted to plunder her mouth, not gently, he realised, but passionately and desperately.
A soft sigh escaped her parted lips. She was so close. All he had to do was lower his head a little and they’d be kissing.
But it wouldn’t be just a kiss. He recognised the strength of desire humming between them and he knew a single kiss would never appease it.
And there was no way he could sleep with Lilah, no matter how desperate he was.
“You’ll freeze out there in that dress,” he said, his words thick.
“Then let’s stay here,” she responded so quietly he had to lean forward to catch the words. Just far enough to feel them breathe across his cheek like tempting little husks.
“No,” he shook his head, smiling despite the fact he was aching deep in his soul. “That would be … dangerous.”
“You see danger everywhere,” she observed, pushing up a little onto her toes so that they were only perhaps an inch apart.
He made a sound of frustration. “There is danger here, honey.”
Honey. The word was just like that! Like warm, sweet liquid oozing down her spine. Never before had anyone called her something so lovely. She could become addicted to the sound of the word. “Show me.”
How he wanted to! To kiss her and taste her would have been perfect. But a single kiss would have led to way too many complications.
“You can feel it,” he said instead, forcing himself to step backwards from her. It was no good. Though he’d put space between them, it only served to stretch the tension tighter.
“So can you.” She followed, closing the distance again, and putting her hand back on his chest. “I heard your heart. It is telling me the truth, even if you are denying it.”
“I’m not denying it,” he said carefully. “But we both know how wrong it would be for me to do what I want to right now.”
She blinked her eyes thoughtfully. “Is there something so terribly wrong with a single kiss?” She lowered her hand, curving her palm around his hip. Lilah! What are you doing? The objections were crowding her mind but she wouldn’t heed common sense. Not when her body was simmering all over.
“You think we’d stop at a kiss?”
She nodded, pressing her body forward, so that she felt his hard planes. It brought about an instant jolt of desire. Muscles she hadn’t known she possessed clenched in expectation. “We’d have to,” she lifted her other hand so that she could rub the pad of her thumb over his lips. He closed his eyes and breathed out unevenly.
“I’ve never been kissed before,” she said simply. “And right now, I want you to be the one who kisses me first.”
He jolted his eyes open, something like possessive lust kicking him hard in the gut.
“How is that possible?”