Page 73 of A Wild Darkness

So far, I’ve felt as natural as I can be.

Sebastian pours a half-glass for me, then leans in close to put the bottle back into the basket and his hand brushes over my knee. To anyone watching, it probably looks normal. Like a couple already comfortable with one another. But to me, it feels intimate. The warmth of his hand leaves tingles on my skin in the spot he touched.

His cologne moves through the warm afternoon air, something dark and clean beneath the sweetness of grapes and sun-warmed earth. He hands me the glass he just poured. My fingers glide against his, and his eyes shoot upward, meeting mine. A smirk on his face.

Oh my god. Did he catch my blush?

“What?” I mumble.

“Nothing.” His gaze dipped to my hand, then back to my face.

I take the glass quickly. “You have a weird look on your face.”

“This is just my face.”

He’s back on his side of the blanket. But he noticed. Of course he noticed. The man notices everything.

“So…” I’m desperate to redirect. “You want it to rain, do you? Do we not get enough rain in Seattle?”

“We need to look comfortable together,” he reminds me with a smile. “And yes. I love the rain.”

I take a sip. The bubbles burn my throat, but in the best way. “I want to tease you about it, but I can’t. I prefer a gloomy rainy day, too.”

“Look at us bonding,” he quips.

I laugh and glance again at the clearing behind us. “Do you really think they’re watching us?”

Sebastian clears his throat. “I’m not a hundred percent sure, but I do know that if I was Silas, I’d be spying on all my members.” Then he picks up a cracker and spreads something pale across it. “Open.”

My mouth falls open. “Absolutely not.”

“We’re probably being watched.”

I set my glass down and cross my arms over my chest. “Then let them watch me reject you.”

“Very romantic.”

“You should be used to rejection.”

“I’m not.”

“Shocking.” He holds the cracker closer to my face.

My eyes narrow. “If you try to feed me like a trained animal, I’ll bite you.”

His smile sharpens. “That wouldn’t discourage me.”

My breath catches before I can hold it in. Sebastian’s expression shifts. The teasing stays, but something else moves beneath it. Is it warmer? More focused?

For a second, our game slips. Then, from a distance behind me, there’s laughter, and I suddenly remember where we are.

I give in and lean forward and open my mouth to bite directly from his fingers.

Sebastian’s wide smile is victorious.

“I hate you,” I mumble, mouth full of cracker.

“No, you don’t.”