Uncharted by Adriana Anders

Author:Adriana Anders
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2021-06-29T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

Aw, hell.

She hadn’t meant to hug this guy. Just like with the kiss, she had only intended to bolster him, buck him up with some reassurance that he wasn’t alone. A friendly smack on the back. A wink, maybe.

Not this close, warm, solid thing; a connection that was more basic than anything she’d ever felt. Not like that belly nuzzle, with its million complications. This felt like she knew him on a cellular level. Like they’d found each other, two parts of a whole, puzzle pieces coming together when they’d been kept too long apart.

He bent his legs and dipped his head, bringing his mouth to her ear—no, just below it—where he burrowed in, nose pushing aside cloth, breath heating her skin…and held her.

Who’s hugging who now?

Who needed it most?

She might have instigated this, but she hadn’t bargained on the…power couldn’t be the right word, could it? The power of holding, being held, hugging, sharing.

“A lot,” he whispered, though she wasn’t sure she caught the right words.

She opened her mouth, prepared to go, take a step back, give an awkward wave, pack up, leave. Crap, maybe they should each go their own way. Whatever was going on here was too complicated. She sucked in a breath to say so, but he broke through it.

“You’re a lot.”

Was that an insult? “A lot of what?”

His exhale heated her face, sent shivers to nerve endings, made her nipples ache. “A lot for a man who’s had nothing for so long.”

Oh hell.

She should step back and give him room.

Instead, she tightened her hold, gave him her weight, and took as much of his as she could.

“You think I’m a lot, Elias Thorne?” Her fingers spread wide, encompassing more of his broad back. He was huge, football-player massive. Rough and weathered and hard as stone.

But hell if she didn’t want to hold him tighter, hide him like he was precious, keep him from all the bad stuff the world had thrown his way.

She’d have stayed like that forever if he hadn’t finally released a shaky breath and disengaged himself from her embrace. Still close, but not touching.

“Thanks.” The word was more growl than language. “Needed that.”

“Are you with me, then?” She finally caught his eye. “Promise I won’t wake up in the morning to find you gone?”

“I wouldn’t do that to you. Wouldn’t just disappear.”

“But you’d rather be alone.”

“Rather be alone? No, Leo. I’d rather save your ass, though.”

“How about we save your fine ass, too, while we’re at it?” she whispered, her fingers lifting to touch him again, then falling without having dared. Funny, given what a daredevil she usually was.

“Fine?” His eyebrows flew so high, they almost melded with his hair.

Pressing her lips together on a smile, she shook her head. And then, because she’d do something stupid if they didn’t leave soon, she took a step back, breathed in something other than him, took another, and another, until finally she tore herself away.

***

The wet, muddy terrain kept them from speaking again, which was good.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.