as we clutch each other and battle it out with our tongues, moaning and whimpering into each other’s mouths.
After, we spasm together. Literally. We’re on the same frequency or wavelength or whatever, and it’s not like anything I’ve ever experienced.
When Raiden gently rolls me over, pulls out, and throws an arm around me, pulling me in against his broad, damp, rock hard chest, I know I’m finished.
I’m terrified, but the warm, strange feeling is back. It kind of feels like I’m wetting myself a little, except it’s not. Nope. No one’s peeing at all.
This is something else. Something I need to be wary of. Something I should fear. Except that right now, wrapped up in Raiden’s arms, I can’t. He’s protecting me from it, shielding me from it. I know I’m going to feel it, and sometime soon, it’s going to sink in, but right now, snuggling against him and letting our bodies cool off together, it isn’t right now.
Right now, everything feels strangely and wonderfully perfect.
CHAPTER 17
Zoe
“What the hell was that?” I yelp. My heart beats double time like it’s going to tear right out of my chest. It sounded like the freaking sky just about caved in on us. A quick glance up to the ceiling proves it’s still there.
“Probably just really loud thunder,” Raiden says lazily. He’s almost half asleep. The fact that it sounded as though the very world was splitting apart clearly doesn’t bother him at all.
He only looks disturbed when I throw his arm off and roll out of bed. “Loud thunder my butt. Are you insane? That was not thunder!”
“Whatever it is, we’re fine. There isn’t any reason to worry.”
Ignoring Raiden’s assurances, I scramble for my dress and slide back into it. Thank god maxi dresses are easy to get in and out of. I scramble to the small window, part the white plastic blinds, and peek out.
“Holy poo shoes! There’s a tree on the ground. A freaking tree!”
“What?” Raiden scrambles out of bed and joins me at the window, naked. He’s completely naked, but he clearly doesn't care as he parts the blinds on his end. “Wow. That’s a big pine, and it looks like it just missed us by a few feet.”
“A few feet?” I gasp. “You mean that tree came down and just about crashed through the roof of this cabin and…and…squashed us? It could have killed us!”
“We were lucky.” Raiden snaps the blinds closed. He saunters back over to the bed like trees just about fall and take him out, murder style, every single day.
“That’s it?” I turn and gape at him. He sprawls across the bed and pulls the sheet over his waist.
“Yup, it’s down. Not much we can do about it now. The camp owners will come and cut it up for firewood or something.”
“But…but…it could have killed us!”
“Lots of things can almost kill you. The point is, it didn’t. I bet they knew that no matter which way the tree fell, it couldn’t hit any of the cabins, or it would have been cut down already.”
“Who knew?”
“The lodge owners.”
“It’s right beside the cabin!”
“But it isn’t on it!”
“Argh!” I scramble across the room and snatch up my bra and panties. “I’m done. We can’t do this anymore. This is a sign—a sign from the universe.”
That gets Raiden’s attention. He shoots upright so fast that he looks like a human version of a windup toy. “What? You’re leaving?”
“Yes!”
“But you’re coming back.”
“No!”
“Come on,” he implores me. “You can’t be serious. The universe isn’t sending us a sign about anything. What does that even mean?”
“This is the third sign. The first time, your own body rebelled against us. The second time, nature intervened. This is the third time. And this time, nature wasn’t messing around. She was seriously pissed off. That poor tree!”
Raiden’s eyes become bigger than I’ve ever seen them. His brows arch, and his mouth falls open for a minute before he snaps it shut and gets a hold of himself. “That’s absolute nonsense,” he says with conviction.
“No, it isn’t! Think about it. Technically, this should never happen. We were once stepbrother and stepsister. It’s wrong. It’s just seriously wrong.”
“It’s not. Our parents weren’t married for very long, and we never thought of each other as brother and sister. Plus, we were kids then. It’s been years and years since we’ve last seen each other before we met again, and our parents haven’t been married for years and years. It isn’t wrong.”
“It is,” I insist, “because even if