“But—”
“Woman.” He grabs my hips and stills me, his grip like steel. “Stop. Wiggling. Or I might lose the last of my control.”
“Your control?”
“What am I, your confidante, your eunuch best friend? I’m a male. I have hot blood in my veins. And I want you.”
“…oh.”
At least he doesn’t look angry anymore. His cheeks are ruddy, his eyes bright. He looks so… kissable. So handsome and so irresistibly… male, with his square jaw and thick brows, his strong neck and shoulders, the very opposite of me, and it’s so attractive I can’t breathe from wanting him.
I want to lick his chin, his jaw, press my nose to his temples, to his neck, I want to bite into that slightly fuller upper lip, to trace his features with my fingers, feel his lashes under my fingertips…
And the way he gazes back at me, lips parted, eyes dark like midnight staring at my mouth, the way he groans softly when I shift on top of him…
We come together at the same time—he sits up and I lean forward, and our lips meet. His hands are on my face, on my neck, mine are on his cheeks, in his hair, and we’re kissing again, at long last. I’m dying, lost in his taste, the feel of him pressed to me. My dreams, my thoughts, my desires suddenly make sense. My need for a companion, a marriage, the thought of children—they don’t scare me when I’m with him. They make sense.
Imake sense.
I feel as if my body is rebuilding itself piece by piece into something new, a body that craves his, a body that belongs to him, that wants him everywhere, inside and out. I want him to touch me, to sink inside of me, to make me feel things I never have before. I want to sleep with him. To be his.
Now I am a woman, I think.Who cares about dresses and hairdos? Now I am a woman because I have found my opposite, the one who fits against me, the one who completes me, my male counterpart.
Otherwise, why should it matter? I am who I am.
But with him, I am more.
11
SELINA
We’re locked together in this kiss that’s like a glass sphere, and we’re at the center of it, floating in the light while the world slowly spins around us. His skin is salty, his mouth is sweet, his tongue is a slice of spice against my senses. The way he’s holding me, the way he’s biting me like he wants to eat me whole… I want to cry because it feels so right.
This is where I belong. With him.
But suddenly he breaks the kiss and winces. His cheeks are so hot under my hands, scalding them.
“What is it?” I whisper.
“Nothing.”
I don’t believe him. I trust him, but he’s lying to protect me. From what? “Are you in pain?”
“Of course I am. I want you too much.”
I take his hand. He has a red ribbon tied around his strong wrist. “And this?”
The flush on his cheekbones deepens. “I found it last time in the basket. A ribbon from your hair.”
My breath catches. He’s wearing my token. He chose to wear it. He chose me. My heart is pounding, wanting him, and my body agrees.
“I want…” I swallow hard. “Can wedoit when you’re in this form?”
He chuckles, lashes lowering. “Some parts of me remain the same in every form. You’ve seen how much I want you. Felt it.”
Yes, I have. He’s hard as a rock behind me, right again my backside.
I lick my lips. “Let me get something straight. Kissing can’t lift the curse, right? That was a ruse?”