She wrapped her arms around his neck, unconsciously pressing her body as close as she could to his, her hips grinding over his solid muscles without thought, rubbing her in a way that was decadent.
It wasn’t a kiss, it was an experience, and she felt like a virgin having her first with him again. New sensations coursed through her body, the promise of something dark and delicious and depraved on the horizon that had everything feminine in her unfurl and open and accept his pillaging of her being. It was a kiss both new and familiar, like a melody she’d heard long ago and never forgot. And her core knew, he would fuck now like he kissed, and god she wanted to know what that would be like. Would he hold her down and slam her into the bed? Would he pull her hair back and devour her mouth as he plunged inside her? Would he mark her skin with his teeth?
A shiver coursed down her body, her nipples tightening to hard points against his chest.
A romantic at heart, she’d always believed in love at the first meeting. Her parents had been a love-at-first-meeting couple. One of her colleagues was a love-at-first-meeting couple. Even her grandparents on her dad’s side had been a couple like that. And she’d found that with him a long time ago, and kissing him kindled it back to life—the emotions, the attraction, the longing, and the pain. Oh, the sweet, bitter pain.
He was her love-at-first-meeting. And she didn’t know who he was now, but he was hers. He’d always been hers.
A few whistles rent the air, someone catcalled, and she blinked her eyes open, looking at the man who had tilted her world on its axis again. Suddenly remembering they weren't alone, Zephyr pulled back and looked at him, her breasts heaving, flush against his chest.
His mouth was wet and slightly pink from her gloss, and he seemed unbothered as he watched her.
She wiggled down back to her own feet, tilting her neck back because lord, the man was blessed by the vertical gods and she was not. His height seemed to be the only recognizable trait from the old him—the bulk, the scars, the injuries, and the danger were all new.
He didn’t recognize her, so she needed to begin again. "Thanks."
The unscarred side of his lip twitched a bit, his golden eye going behind her. "You with him?" he asked. His voice was... more masculine than she remembered. She really didn't know how else to put it. The baritone was deeper, the tenor was graver, the sound a little huskier. It was a voice she could imagine commanding a room of people, a voice she could imagine whispering dirty things to a lover, a voice of dark leather and wild power.
She turned around to see who he was referring to, finding Alec fuming in the crowd. She’d forgotten about him.
"No." Her refusal was loud, more high-pitched than she'd wanted. Her nose got warm as she got a bit flustered.
The bald guy from earlier came up from the side, watching the two of them with slight amusement. "That was... interesting."
Alpha ignored his comment. "Hector will drop you home safely." Hector, the bald guy, gave her a grin.
Alpha's hand, still taped, came up to her chin, holding her in place, his single-eyed gaze intense before he dropped a lingering kiss on her lips. "You kiss good, rainbow."
Something in the cavity of her chest shriveled at his lack of recognition, while something else bloomed with the sheer joy of finding him again.
Zephyr shook it off and let her lips curl in a smile. "You too, sexy."
She felt his amusement at that. With a chuck under her chin, he strode away from the arena, leaving her standing behind as he had ten years ago, waiting for him to turn around and come back to her again.
Her first love, the one she never recovered from. Love, the kind she could give everything and replenish yet again to give more, the kind that snuck in under the radar and one day it was there, mixed into the cement of her foundations, love that went so deep into the bones it changed the course of being.
He had been that love.
He was back.
And he remembered nothing.
She was screwed.