The Shadow Knight catches me around the waist, halting me in place. His grip tightens, until his chest is against my back. I'm struggling not to cry, my breathing shallow and quick, my eyes burning. He holds me quietly, his second hand resting at the base of my neck in a movement both possessive and reassuring. I strain against him for a moment, needing space rather than touch yet too turned on by him to want to leave it completely.
"Calm, witch," he says softly.
I need a hug, and I don't care if it's from him. Twisting in his grip, I slide my arms around him and take a deep breath of brownies and clover. His scent has a way of melting me from the inside out. Any part of me that's not rendered spineless by it folds to the thick arms and wide chest I'm soon pressed against. I mold against him perfectly. There's no discomfort the way I felt with Jason, who was taller than me but not quite tall enough for me to fit against him like this.
Like we were made for each other.
The Shadow Knight is quiet. He rests his chin against my head and I listen to his heartbeat.
"I believe in you, witch. You should, too," he says firmly. "I can cut off another hand, if it convinces you."
"No," I mumble against his chest. God, I just want to strip his clothes off and smell his skin directly! My lower belly is in flames, the hollow between my legs soaked. I can't remember ever being so aroused.
Or so determined not to fold to my physical need because of the issues remaining between us.
He lifts my chin, and I gaze up at him, heart pounding in my chest. "Had we more time . . ." he drifts off, eyes going to my lips. He's getting hard, his long, thick arousal pressed to my belly. I want so badly for the hand at the small of my back to drift a little farther south, for those sculpted lips to touch mine, for him to command me in bed the way he does outside. There's fire in his eyes and it awes me. That he's attracted to someone like me is nothing short of amazing.
Engaged. I repeat the word over and over. I can never do to another woman what Jason did to me.
"We need to leave," he says with reluctance. His thumb runs across my lips.
I almost sigh in relief. I'm not gonna be the one to walk away, if he kisses me. "I'm not Rapunzel. I can't get us out of the tower."