Reborn Yesterday - Tessa Bailey Page 0,15

to protect you, Ginny? How could anyone?” His chin fell towards his chest. “You’re funny and brave and so fucking beautiful and God, I really should not be here.”

The organ in her chest swelled and danced so unexpectedly, she almost toppled over the wall. “But…I thought you didn’t want to kiss me.”

He moved faster than a blink, his image blurring until suddenly her back was pressed to the wall, Jonas’s nose an inch away from hers. “Did you hear what I said about the three rules? Breaking one leads to all three being broken.” Their lips grazed and both of them swayed, fingers twisting in one another’s clothing. “Think about it, Ginny. I can’t look at your trusting face and spell it out.”

“Okay…” She reached out with her mind, trying to grab onto the strings of information, but balloons were floating off with them. How could she think when his eyes blazed down at her with a trifecta of fascination and pain and need? “You can’t be in a relationship with me because you’ll break rule number three. I think, right? D-drinking?”

“Yes,” he hissed, dropping his mouth to Ginny’s neck and inhaling deeply, those strong hands pulling her closer by the waist of her dress. “I meant what I said last night. There’s a difference between you and everyone else. It’s as if I already know what you’ll taste like. I recognize you.” His lips brushed across her pulse. “I recognize this like it’s welcoming me home.”

If her thoughts weren’t scattered bits of crumb, due to their blistering proximity and his body, oh Lord his body, she might have recalled her earlier sensation of déjà vu. Of trusting him without reason or cause because she knew, without a doubt, he’d never hurt her.

Jonas lifted his chin and pressed their foreheads together. “You’re forgetting the second rule, Ginny.”

“No killing humans,” she whispered. “I remember.”

Regret laced his tone when he spoke. “Break one, break three.”

“No. That sounds like something that was made up to control your behavior. Like, ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away.’ Clearly an apple farmer thought of that. No one ever stops to think of the origin of…of…why are you laughing?”

“You.” His lips brushed over her hair. “You refuse to stop making me laugh. And—”

“And you shouldn’t be here.”

“That’s already getting old, isn’t it? It’s the truth.” His gaze mapped her face. “My strength would be a wildcard if I gave in to this. I can’t predict how I’d react to kissing you—or more, when I barely understand what you’re doing to me without throwing…more into the mix.” He paused. “This is unusual, Ginny.”

More.

That huskily spoken word made that made her thighs want to open. He would press against her hard and she’d wrap them—

“Stop,” he breathed. “You’re tempting disaster.”

“Maybe one kiss?”

He laughed without humor. “It wouldn’t stop there,” he said thickly, bracing his hands on the wall on either side of Ginny. “It would have to be all or nothing with you.”

Jonas flicked her a searing look and she saw his meaning there. Oh, she certainly did. A corresponding moving image came to life in her mind. Jonas moving roughly on top of her, her skirt around her waist…his teeth fastened to her neck. Her thoughts must have translated to her face because Jonas blurred away with a curse, leaving her in a near puddle against the wall.

“Only another eleven hours and seventeen minutes to sunrise,” he muttered. “Downstairs, please, Ginny.”

“Yes, Dreamboat,” she quipped, before blushing to the roots of her hair. Avoiding his questioning look, she slipped past him down the stairs.

“I knew I’d heard you call me that last night.” His voice was brisk—and directly behind her. “Do you have a nickname for Gordon?”

“I’m not sure that’s any of your business.”

“You wanted it to be my business or you wouldn’t have brought him up.”

“I was befuddled when I did that.”

Jonas hummed a skeptical sound. “How do you know him?”

“Am I…putting his well-being at risk by telling you?”

“No. Remember the rules.”

Ginny stopped and turned at the bottom of the stairs. “The rules are pretty much the only thing I’m thinking about right now.”

He touched the tip of his tongue to his upper lip. “Same.”

They held a heated mini staring contest. “What happens when you find the person who has been threatening me? Are you going to slap them on the wrist and ask them nicely to stop? Anything else would be against the rules.”

“You don’t think I’ve considered this?”

“What did you come up with?”

He took