The Brightest Night (Origin #3) - Jennifer L. Armentrout Page 0,55

stared up at him.

“You know what else?”

Lips curving up at the corners, I resisted the urge to tackle-hug him. Barely. This was the Luc that had been missing after he’d taken the Source from me, this playful, irreverent side of him that simmered under the surface even in the direst of circumstances. This was what had been absent.

“What?” I whispered, voice a little thick with the unexpected burst of emotion.

“I was feeling a little off today, but now, with you, I’m definitely feeling turned on.”

“Oh my God.” I laughed.

“Tell me, Peaches, are you a parking ticket?”

“How are you going to turn that into a cheesy pickup line?”

“Because you have fine written all over you.”

“That was the lamest thing I’ve heard.”

“Are you sure?” His hand slid down my waist to my hip, leaving a riot of sensations in its wake. “What about this? Is your name Google? Because you have everything I’ve been searching for.”

I was grinning like there was nothing wrong in the world, and I had him to thank for that. “Okay. I was wrong. That was the lamest thing I’ve heard.”

“And you don’t ever have to worry about me becoming what I was last night,” he said, voice quiet as his gaze locked with mine. “That won’t happen again. Never. I’m not going to lose you. You’re sure as hell not going to lose me.”

My breath caught. “Good.”

“Like, ever, Peaches.”

“I’m okay with that.”

“You’re stuck with me,” he went on. “You’re paper and I’m glue. We go together—”

“Like cheese and bread?”

“That’s my girl.” He leaned his mouth to mine—

Another yawn escaped me, heating my entire face. “God! I’m so sorry. You go to kiss me, and I yawn right in your face.”

Laughing under his breath, he smoothed his thumb along my chin. “It was hot.”

“That was the exact opposite of hot. I can’t believe I did that. I don’t know why I’m so tired.”

“You really don’t?” he asked, dropping his hand from my chin. “A lot has happened, and only a little bit of that included sleep.”

There he went, being all logical and stuff.

“Come on.” Folding his hand around mine, he hopped to his feet, pulling me up with him. “Let’s get you inside, and if you’re good, I’ll dazzle you with some more pickup lines.”

“If I’m good?” I smacked his chest, not at all surprised when he caught my hand with his unbelievably fast reflexes.

Curling an arm around me, he hauled me against his chest and kissed me.

It wasn’t quick, like the one he’d given me before he’d left to speak to Daemon. This one went on until my head swam with the taste and feel of him. He kissed me like it was the last thing he’d ever do, like he was starving just for me, and he was. I could feel it in the press of his lips and the sweep of his tongue. I was his everything, and he was mine.

His chest was hot and hard under his shirt, and his heart was thumping just as fast as mine. I slid my hands up, clutching his shoulders, the nape of his neck and then his hair.

When the kiss ended, his breathing was as ragged and raw as every one of my nerve endings. “I am yours.”

Opening my eyes, I didn’t yell at him for being in my mind. “And I am yours.”

He dropped his forehead to mine. “Cheese and bread. That’s who we are.”

“Mmm,” I murmured, letting my hands slide off him as I stepped back. “That makes me hungry.”

Luc chuckled as he reached for my hand. “Speaking of hunger, that reminds me of what Daemon wanted to talk about.”

Probably because of that kiss we’d just shared, I was thinking about a whole different kind of hunger, and my mind immediately jumped into the land of naughtiness. I tried to blink away the images of Daemon and Luc.

And failed.

A slow smile pulled at the corners of my lips.

His eyes narrowed, but a teasing glint showed through. “Such a dirty mind.”

“Whatever.” I laughed. “What else did Daemon want to talk about?”

“One of the unofficial but entirely official leaders here is having a meeting outside the zone, and that’s got everyone antsy, especially since a group that went out to pick up a package hasn’t checked in like they were supposed to.”

I thought about the Luxen family that hadn’t made it here and the Luxen Jonathan who hadn’t come back. “Can I ask you something and you be a hundred percent honest?”

Luc didn’t answer immediately. I could