"Don't they mean anything to you?"
"No. Nothing means shit to me."
"Nothing?"
Zarek paused as he looked at her kneeling beside him. Her cheeks were chafed, the skin no longer soft and protected as it had been when he first awoke in her cabin. She stared over his shoulder, but he knew it was because she wasn't quite sure where he was.
Her lips were slightly parted, her hair mussed.
In his mind he could see her in his arms, feel her skin sliding against his. And in that moment, he made a startling discovery.
He did care about something.
Her.
Even though she had lied to him and tricked him, he didn't want her hurt. He didn't want to see her delicate skin damaged by the extreme weather.
She should be sheltered from such harshness.
How he hated himself for that weakness.
"No, princess," he whispered, the lie catching in his throat. "I don't care about anything."
She reached out then so that she could touch his face. "Is that lie for your benefit or mine?"
"Who says it's a lie?"
"I do, Zarek. For a man who doesn't care, you've made a great effort to make sure I'm safe." She smiled at him. "I do know you, Prince Charming. I really do see what's inside you."
"You're blind."
She shook her head. "I'm not nearly as blind as you are."
Then she did the most unexpected thing of all. She leaned forward and captured his lips with hers.
Something inside him shattered at the contact, at the sensation of her moist, sweet lips. Of her tongue sweeping against his.
This wasn't a dream.
This was real.
And it was wonderful. As good as she had tasted before, it was so much better now.
He crushed her to him, taking control of the kiss. He wanted to devour her. To take her right now on the floor until his hard-on was spent and sated.
But if his dreams were any indication, it would take more than a single act of sex to ease the fire in his groin.
He could love this woman all night long and still be begging for more when the morning came.
Astrid couldn't breathe from the fierceness of his kiss. The heat of his body set fire to her own.
He was truly wild, her warrior.
He slid his cool hand under her shirt until he could cup her breast. She shivered as his fingers pushed the lace of her bra aside so that he could run his palm against her swollen nipple.
She'd never allowed anyone to handle her like this. But then, she'd done a lot of things with him that she had never done before.
All her life, she'd been circumspect and proper. The kind of woman who lived by the rules and who never sought to break or even bend them.