In more ways than one.
“Because even if I gild something, I can ungild it.”
A low hum comes from his throat, and he lifts a hand like he’s going to touch my face, but I rear back, batting his hand away with my elbow. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going to grab your face and kiss you.”
My stomach tightens, because that sounds like a very nice reward, but then my eyes snap to the outside of the cave. “It’s still daylight.”
“But you just proved that you can ungild something if need be.”
He tries to move again, and I leap up out of his lap. “Let’s not get hasty. That was only my first time.”
Slade gets to his feet, and the look in his eye makes my body go hot all over.
“You know how to call your gold-touch, and you also know how to make it retreat now,” he says as he begins to prowl toward me with a hungry look in his eye.
I lift my hands up in front of me to ward him off. “I only just learned how to do that three seconds ago!”
He doesn’t reply, just keeps coming for me, and great Divine, the look on his face. His dark green eyes sweep down my figure like he’s thinking very dirty thoughts.
“I could still slip up. Now’s not the time to test this, and I definitely shouldn’t test it on you.”
“You haven’t gilded anything involuntarily since you woke up,” he points out, still prowling toward me.
I back up, shaking my head. “Let’s just save the kissing for when the sun goes down. It’ll be like old times. It’s too soon to do this right now.”
My back hits the cave wall, and he’s right there pinning me in place without even touching me. “On the contrary. This moment has been a long time coming.”
His broad chest blocks out the light of the cave, his head tilted down to look me in the eye, and I can’t breathe. My mind screams with doubts and fears, even as my body whispers with desire, spine bending ever so slightly to get closer to him.
“Slade.”
“Auren.” He leans in close, the plume of his warm breath skating against the skin of my cheek. “You’ve touched me during the day already.”
“But—”
“You’re not going to suddenly gold-touch me.”
Watching him from a few feet away is one thing. But when he’s this close, when the exhales make our chests skim against each other, and when I can see every facet of his green-flecked eyes, it’s hard to think. It’s hard to doubt. It’s hard to fear. He’s so all-consuming that my mind just stutters to a stop.
“Kiss me,” he says.
My breath hooks at the back of my throat. “We shouldn’t.”
“Oh, but we should.” He shifts again, so close that I can feel the air move between our cheeks.
My mouth has gone dry, my whole body flaring with want I can’t tamp down. I’m practically clasping the wall at my back as if it’ll keep me from melting right into him, but I’m not sure how much resistance I can truly put up.
Behind me, molten gold slips from my palms, wetting the stone wall. “My power’s slipping,” I whisper shakily as he softly blows against the bend of my neck. Chills flare from his purposeful breath, my skin somehow feeling both cold and hot at the same time.
“Kiss me,” he commands again.
I want to.
“You want to,” he says, like the jerk is reading my mind.
I immediately shake my head. “No, I don’t. I don’t even like kissing you. It’s the worst.”
The corner of his mouth twitches. “Is that so?”
“Yes,” I reply tartly. “You have bad form. I should’ve told you before.”
A laugh escapes him just as he reaches down to trail a finger over my collarbone. Even though it’s covered in my shirt and coat, that simple touch makes me think of skin-to-skin, which I’m sure is exactly the point. “Bad form? That sounds unfortunate.”
“It—it is.”
“Mm-hmm.” Slade moves his finger lower until it grazes against my abdomen and then catches against the waist of my pants. “Have I told you how much I enjoy watching your ass in these pants?”
“The sentiment is mutual.”
Another laugh escapes him, making my stomach tumble over itself.
He leans back to look at me, the heat of his body like a warm blanket I want to dive beneath. “Kiss me.”
My fingers dig into the stone, and I hear the soft patter of gold starting to drip onto the floor. “My magic…”