probably wouldn’t be partying until dark—around six o’clock. Her last glimpse at Chance’s watch was maybe half an hour ago. About one-thirty then. So how to keep the conversation light for another four hours? Games? Chance had always been pretty competitive. I Spy was out. Twenty Questions? Too risky, as was Truth or Dare. Rock, Paper, Scissors had possibilities, but her skin crawled at the thought of four hours of it.
Man, a beer would taste so good right now.
A song popped in her head. She hummed a few bars, and then started to sing softly. “Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-nine bottle of beer. Take one down and pass it around…” She made it down to seventy-one before she heard shuffling noises to her left. With any luck, it would be Chance and not a backup horde of spider recruits coming her way.
But luck hadn’t exactly fared well for her lately.
The pinpoint of light expanded as Chance scrambled through the far opening, and her heart pounded with relief at the sight of him. But only because he might’ve found a way out.
He motioned with the light toward the gap he’d come through and started gathering their packs. “There’s a small cavity not too far away that I think will be warmer. Let’s move in there.”
She trembled at the thought of moving farther into the depths, away from the crystal opening with its connection to the upper level. “But if somebody comes, will we hear them that far away?”
“I’ll come out every half hour or so. I’d feel safer if we were farther from the spiders.” He held his hand out.
She took it and immediately regretted the action. His thumb brushed lightly across her knuckles as his gaze found hers. Thoughts of touching him had her primed, so the actual occurrence ran a surge through her. She felt her breath catch in her throat. The electric current followed his hand to her hip where he held her while she balanced shakily on her good foot.
She gave a nervous laugh, much too aware of him. In the stillness, she heard him swallow.
The slight tug pulled her off balance, and she came up hard against him. His free hand caught her around the waist, holding her close, his eyes searching hers, trying to see beyond the shadows. “I can’t deny you still have an effect on me, Kyn. Even after all this time.”
“I know. I feel it, too.”
“Is it wrong? Wrong for me to want you?”
She heard the backpacks and flashlight fall from his grip an instant before his fingers traced a path from her chin to her cheek and into her hair. The light faded away as she closed her eyes. Wanting wasn’t wrong. Wanting was a feeling, and feelings couldn’t be right or wrong.
She shook her head in response to his question, melting into the familiarity of his embrace. His breath hovered just above her mouth, and she rose on tiptoe to capture it, not caring how many others there had been because at that moment, there were only the two of them.
She slid one arm around his waist, the other across his shoulder. Her fingertips played across the back of his neck before gliding into the damp fringe just above it. His back muscles shuddered then relaxed under her palm as she pressed her mouth more firmly against his and parted her lips in invitation.
The darkness wrapped around them, pushing them closer.
The kiss outlasted the first few moments of fevered intensity and settled into a rhythm of languorous sensuality.
It ended as softly as it began.
Their clutch loosened, and Kyndal lowered her weight back onto her good foot, still supported by Chance’s arms.
She could feel his eyes on her even in the dark, knew instinctively he was about to kiss her again. If she didn’t stop it she’d be laying herself wide-open. And, despite what she’d thought a moment ago, that would be wrong. “I can’t…” Trust you with my heart again. You left me, she wanted to say, but this wasn’t the time for an argument. “I can’t do this.” She pushed at his chest, heard his sigh as his hands dropped from her. A searing pain shot through her foot as she placed her toe down to balance.
“You and this guy…” The huskiness in his voice was magnified in the surrounding blackness. “What’s his name?”
“Rick Warren.”
“You and Rick Warren have a good thing going and you don’t want to screw it up. I understand.”