Warrior (Relentless #4)(170)

My hands captured her face, and I held her to me, kissing her with a hunger I’d never felt before. Being away from her had been hell. Not knowing if I’d ever be able to touch her again, torture. I wanted nothing more than to carry her upstairs and spend the night making slow exquisite love to her.

“Sara,” I whispered reverently against her mouth.

She trembled as my lips moved up her face to her forehead and back again. Breathing hard, I pulled her head down to my chest and held her close. We lay quietly for a moment as I willed my heart to slow down and basked in the pleasure of holding her in my arms.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” I teased gruffly, still trying to calm my overheated body. “I should go away for another week.”

She huffed and pulled out of my arms to rise over me, wearing an adorable scowl that made me want to kiss her again, despite the approaching footsteps. I’d know Chris’s walk anywhere, and I silently cursed him for his timing.

“Maybe I should come back later,” he said, with barely-suppressed laughter.

“Good idea.” My eyes never left Sara’s. I was already thinking about tasting her lips again.

“Where is she?” Jordan called, and I almost groaned at the new interruption.

Sara’s cheeks turned pink as her friend walked toward us.

“Oh. Well I guess she’s feeling better,” Jordan quipped, and I could tell she was grinning as much as Chris. I was glad the two of them were having fun, but I’d be a lot happier if they’d do it somewhere else.

Chris chuckled softly. “Come along, Jordan. Let’s give these two some time together.”

“But…”

“We’ll see you two later,” Chris said as they walked away.

I smiled at Sara and noticed the dark shadows under her eyes. “You look tired,” I said, lifting her hair away to see her better.

“I haven’t been sleeping well.” She lowered her body to lay her head on my chest with a shuddering breath. “Are you really here?”

“Yes.” The catch in her voice made my chest tighten, and I pulled her closer. “Aine said you’ve been working hard to get your control back. Looks like she was right.”

“She and Eldeorin are so good to me. Eldeorin said I have to start training next week.”

“Yes, he told me that.” I hoped the faerie made himself scarce until then. I wanted Sara to myself for Christmas, at least as much as possible with everyone else here.

“He didn’t say how long it would take,” she said slowly, sadness creeping into her voice.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” she mumbled.

I rolled to one side so she was lying beside me and made her look at me. “You are a terrible liar. Tell me what’s bothering you.”

She bit her lip. “I was just wondering how long I’ll have to be here. I know you have responsibilities and I don’t expect…”

Was that what was worrying her? Did she actually believe I’d leave her here?

“I’m not going anywhere,” I said, holding her gaze so she’d see the truth in my eyes. “I may have to leave for a day or two sometimes, but I’ll come back.”

“Oh,” she breathed, a smile lighting up her face.

I arched an eyebrow. “You thought I’d leave you after the chase you led me on?”

She glanced away and inhaled deeply. “I’m sorry I took off the way I did. I was upset, but I should have talked to you instead of running away.”

I reached up to stroke her hair, and she brought her eyes back to mine.

“I’m sorry too,” I said regretfully. We would have been saved so much pain if I hadn’t overreacted that day at Westhorne. “I handled the whole thing badly. I saw how upset you were, and I should have known you would run.”

Her lips twitched. “You did know. That’s why you had the twins follow me everywhere.”

I gave her a wry smile. “A lot of good it did. At least Seamus and Niall won’t be making any more wisecracks about how you never would have given them the slip in Maine.”

She toyed with the front of my sweater. “How long did it take you to find them and realize we were gone?”

My smile faded as I thought about that day. “About thirty minutes. Then we spent the next thirty scouring the woods. How did you two get past all our sentries?”

Her lips parted in surprise. “Jordan didn’t tell you?”

“She said she was going to let you tell that story.” I waited for her to start. “Well?”

She looked down. “You promise you won’t get angry?”

“I think we’re beyond that after everything else that’s happened, don’t you?”

She nodded and took a breath. “You already know how we got away from Seamus and Niall. I knew it wouldn’t take long for you to come after us, and the first place you’d look was the woods. There was no way Jordan and I could outrun you on foot so we rode the river to town.”

“You rode a boat down the river? Where did you get a boat?”

“Remember, you promised not to be angry.” She gave me a small smile. “We didn’t use a boat. I used my magic to float us. And before you start yelling, you should know I’m really good with water magic, and we weren’t in any danger. Except maybe from freezing our butts off when we got out. We had dry clothes in plastic bags so we changed into them at the old mill. Then we ran to Derek’s to pick up a car Jordan bought from his friend Wes.”