Heart of Fire (Blood of Zeus #2) - Meredith Wild Page 0,22
me. Her tongue tangles with mine again. And damn, it’s nice. Really nice. I’m already wondering if the rest of her is so delicious when mixed with night wind and canyon sage and apple tart.
I groan, barely recognizing the dark and primal sound as me. The same inner caveman dictates my moves and has me cupping her ass to keep her from toppling back across the car’s hood. But maybe that wouldn’t be a horrible thing. She’d have broken apple dessert all over her, and then I’d have no choice but to try to clean it all off…
I moan again, deep and guttural, but this repetition has been force-fed to my lips. “You know that if this were the film reel of my fantasies, you’d be naked under me in this dirt, right?”
“Funny coincidence. The film room in my mind is playing the same feature.”
Kara gives back as good as she gets, and then some, with a laugh that blends perfectly into the next song that flows out from the iconic theater shell below. I don’t recognize the melody, which sounds more contemporary, but everything’s more perfect because of that. It’s so much like the woman sitting here beneath the stars with me. Soft but strong. Pure but passionate. Honest but layered.
So many incredible layers…
God help me, she’s worth so much more than what my fantasy reel has to offer at the moment. At any moment.
I stumble back a step, gaining a necessary gap from the primal surge of our connection. I might as well be walking with a sword through my groin, though.
“Kara…”
I stab both hands through my hair, struggling for the right words. We stay that way, in sobered silence, for an agonizing moment. I close my eyes, then open them again. She’s no less breathtaking, even in the outer frame of my vision. No less willpower-shattering perched on the hood of the car and looking like a wet dream.
I blow out a breath, determined to do this. To get the syllables out.
“I may be half god, but I’m still a man, and that means I can’t help the places my thoughts go when we’re this close. Call me crazy, but I want to do this right. You need to let me, okay? This is your real first date, after all.”
She looks thoughtful for a moment. Then tilts her head to the side. “If you insist.”
My willpower is so threadbare at this point, she could do nearly anything to change my mind. But I do my best to hold my ground. “Yeah, I do.”
She twists her lips into a coy smile. “Does that mean I have to keep my hands to myself, then?”
I laugh because it keeps me from doing other things, like kissing the tease—and the breath—right out of her. Or risking a bigger scene than the one in front of the restaurant if anyone were to notice our little hideaway here. That’s the most sobering thought of all. The reality is that cameras are damn near everywhere, whether I realize it or not.
I clear my throat and shove my hands into my jean pockets.
“How about we keep our hands and mouths occupied with those delicious tarts, and you tell me about your day?”
Instead of tempting my resolve further—for which I nearly thank her out loud—she turns and pops open the two containers.
“Actually, I was hoping to ask you about yours.” She breaks off a piece of the treat and brings it to her rosy lips. “What did Z have to say? Anything promising?”
I force myself to concentrate on her questions, not the way she broke them up by sucking the extra sugar off her fingertips. There’s nothing flirty about her actions or a shred of boredom about her inquiry. I can clearly sense her genuine hopefulness. She’s not alone in the nagging uncertainty about whether my father can really ensure her mortal safety.
I hop up beside her on the hood and welcome the distraction of digging into the dessert too. Savoring the apples and sugar affords a much-needed moment to think back over the day. I’ve hardly had a moment to process all of it. I’m certain we’ll have many more days like these, though. Fast and overwhelming. Not all bad. Not all good. But they’ll all be with her, so that’ll be okay.
“He told me a little about how he met my mother. It helped a little, I think…having some of those blank spaces finally filled in, you know?”