Fear of Fire and Shadow (The Fade #1) - Samantha Young Page 0,56

respond. My emotions were overwhelmed.

Because I was attracted to him. Deeply so.

And yet I felt I owed my family better than that, even if Wolfe was not to blame for his father’s crimes. Surely caring for the son of the man who killed them was still a betrayal of their memory?

Turning his body toward mine, Wolfe shifted a little closer. Unconsciously, in spite of the turmoil raging inside me, I moved into him. It was as though we were two magnets, inevitably drawn together.

“I wanted to kill him, you know.”

I frowned. “Who?”

“Kir.” Wolfe gave a rueful shake of his head. “I wanted to kill him … and all he did was kiss you.”

I recognized the intensity in Wolfe’s gaze, the flicker of something I saw sometimes when he looked at me, that I’d never understood.

Until now.

He wanted me.

Wolfe, who caused women all over to swoon if he smiled at them. For goodness’ sake, according to palace gossip, he’d had a love affair with Vojvodkyna Winter Rada, the woman whose court we were heading to. She was an incredibly beautiful, sophisticated, wealthy young widow.

And yet he wanted me?

“I—”

Wolfe suddenly clasped my nape in his large hand, cutting off whatever banal thing I might have said to fill the heavy silence.

I swallowed hard, feeling so hot I thought I might combust. The way he looked at me …

No one had ever looked at me like that before. Like I was the most—

“You’re so beautiful,” Wolfe said hoarsely.

Maybe I was naive, but I believed he really thought so.

And then I wasn’t really thinking about anything but the fact that his mouth hovered inches from mine. A gasp escaped from between my lips as Wolfe leaned in and brushed his across mine in soft, feathery, butterfly kisses. They were all at once excruciatingly wonderful and frustrating.

“Wolfe,” I murmured in complaint, wishing for more. Then I smirked against his lips, teasing, “Is that the best you can do?”

He accepted my challenge, loosening his grip on my neck but only to wrap his arms around me. I was pressed flush to him, my breasts crushed against his chest.

His kiss was hard and persistent and I pushed into it, intoxicated by the feel and scent of him all around me. A strangled sound erupted from the back of my throat at the feel of his tongue against my lips, and he took the opportunity to sweep into my mouth. It drugged me with the unfamiliar dark pull of the kind of kiss Haydyn had told me about but I’d never experienced. I must have stilled, unsure of what to do, letting him kiss me and enjoying it, but afraid to participate in case I did it wrong.

Wolfe stopped, breaking the kiss. He pulled back to frown at me.

I blushed, feeling like an idiot. Wolfe was used to experienced women, not twenty-one-year-old virgins.

“You’ve never been kissed properly before?” he asked, stroking my flushed cheek. I was still wrapped against him and despite my embarrassment, I didn’t want to pull away. I was addicted.

“No.”

“But I thought you and Jarek—”

“Me and Jarek what?” I huffed. What in haven was he insinuating? Or had Jarek said something? Had Jarek spread lies about me? No, he wouldn’t … would he?

Wolfe arched his eyebrow. “What was I supposed to think? You’re always flirting with him.”

I pressed my hands against his chest and attempted to push him off me but he only held me tighter and grinned. Smug. Annoying. “You are the most—”

“I’m glad I was wrong.” He cut me off, his eyes narrowing with lustful intent. “Now kiss me back.”

With my usual aversion to appearing weak or vulnerable, I stuck out my chin in defiance and declared, “I don’t know how, so we should stop.”

Wolfe laughed. “Not a chance. Just follow my lead, mimic what I do.” His breathing grew labored as he leaned in toward me.

My heart pounded, and I hated to admit it, but I didn’t want to stop. I wanted him.

This time his kiss was gentle, teasing, coaxing me to open my mouth. When his tongue touched mine, I reciprocated. Wolfe groaned and I felt it reverberate through me in delicious waves. I gasped at the feeling. This must be what Haydyn was always talking about.

The kiss grew more frantic and I freed my arms so I could wrap them around him, my breasts flat to his chest, every inch of my body as close as I could get to the heat of his. We collapsed back against the blankets,