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I gripped her chin and took her mouth with another savage kiss.
Zoe softened, her pliant body melting into mine.
The animal impulse to tear at her shirt, to bare her body before me, was almost impossible to ignore. I wanted to suck and taste and bite. Leave marks where she’d see them for days.
I wanted to spread her out on the island and hold her hips down with my hands while her thighs shook on either side of my head. Gorge my fill on her sweetness, kiss her with her taste on my lips. Get drunk on nothing but Zoe.
I wanted to unleash years of bottled longing in between her legs, where we’d both shake and sweat and scream when it was over.
When it was over . . .
What would it be like when it was over?
The thought was like a bucket of ice dumped right over my head.
When torn clothes and sticky, messy skin morphed into a face of regret.Herface.
I tried to imagine that, even as my mouth was fused with hers.
I’d rather wrench my heart out of my chest and deal with the gaping hole left behind.
Slowly, I gentled the kiss, unable to stop as quickly as I likely should have. “Zoe,” I whispered against her lips.
She paused, her eyes locked on mine when she registered my tone. “No,” she begged. “Please don’t stop.” She rubbed her nose against mine, sucking my bottom lip in between hers. This was a pleading kiss, an unnameable request that I’d never be able to fulfill.
Because eventually, I’d let her down.
Eventually, we’d be left standing in the smoldering ashes of what remained, and there was no possibility of that happening in a way that didn’t leave Mira in the middle.
“We can’t, love,” I whispered. The endearment came out thoughtlessly.
Her eyes fluttered shut.
“We can’t,” I repeated. “There’s too much at stake.”
Slowly, her hands slid over my chest, and I fought the urge to lean into her.
Slowly, she lowered her feet to the floor, and I studied her unashamedly, her hair mussed from my hands, her lips pink and puffy from the kisses, and her eyes ...
I couldn’t look away, even though I should have.
Her eyes were disappointed.
I’d done that.
It was why the things I felt for her were better kept leashed and caged and locked away. Why my self-induced purgatory was where I deserved to live.
“I’m sorry,” I told her. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
“Don’t,” she whispered fiercely. “Don’t you dare.”
Finally, I nodded. No apologies, then. I hadn’t meant it anyway. I wasn’t sorry.
I might be tomorrow. But with her taste still lingering on my lips, I couldn’t find any regret.
“Go to bed, Zoe,” I told her. “We’ve got that appointment in the morning, and we both need sleep.”
Her eyes narrowed, thoughtful and sharp. “We’re not done with ... whatever just happened here. Wewilltalk about it eventually.”
