Her fingers curled around the front of his shirt. “Rhys,” she said again, her voice calm and steady even as her gaze moved to his mouth, her tongue darting out to wet her lips.
Rhys just barely managed to keep from groaning, his hands sliding from her arms to her waist. If he kissed her now, would that honestly be so bad? Couldn’t they just look on it as a little formality, one last kiss before they parted forever?
That was romantic. Epic, even.
Didn’t a man get to be epically romantic in a magic cave?
He ducked his head, moving in closer. God, she smelled good. Like something sweet. Vanilla, maybe. He was going to taste every bit of her until he found the source of that scent.
Vivi’s eyes fluttered shut, her breath coming out in a shaky sigh.
And then she seemed to steel herself, her arms suddenly going rigid between them, shoving him back so hard that he actually staggered a little.
“Did you seriously bring me,” she asked through clenched teeth, “to a magic sex cave?”
Rhys blinked at her as Vivi made herself step back because right at this moment, it was taking all her willpower not to launch herself at his face. His stupid, handsome face, currently wearing an expression somewhere between confusion and outrage.
“Beg pardon?” he finally said, and Vivi moved even farther back, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. She was practically shaking with how much she wanted him, her head spinning, her heart pounding in her chest, her ears, between her legs.
She took another step away from him, and his eyes widened, his posture stiffening. “You don’t think I knew this was going to happen, do you? Or that I brought you here on purpose? I mean . . . I did bring you here on purpose, but I had no idea—”
Vivi shook her head, which also seemed to help clear it a little. “Of course not, don’t be gross. I’m just saying that maybe you should’ve, I don’t know, asked your dad or your brothers or someone what exactly you’d be getting into in here.”
“Ah, yes, the old ‘Father, will this job you’re sending me to do involve a magic sex cave?’ talk. Truly, I was remiss not to have it.”
“Don’t be an asshole.”
“Then don’t be ridiculous. No, I didn’t ask the exact specifics of this particular job. And for all I know, no one else has ever been in here with his ex-girlfriend, so this may just be a unique-to-us situation, Vivienne.”
Some of the fog of desire was starting to lift now, and Vivi felt her breathing slowing down, her pulse not pounding nearly as hard. Had she just overcome the magic out of sheer irritation, or was it actually wearing off?
It must have been because Rhys was no longer looking at her like he wanted to eat her alive. He just looked pissed and more than a little offended, and Vivi told herself that was definitely the safer option right now.
“My point is,” Vivi said, steadier now, “that you apparently had no idea what you were actually going to find in here, or you would’ve been warned about it. You didn’t even ask, did you?”
Rhys didn’t answer, his hands shoved in his pockets, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “What if there had been darker magic in here? Something that made us want to kill each other instead of . . .”
She wisely let that thought trail off, her face still hot, her skin still tingling.
“But there wasn’t,” Rhys said, and for the first time, Vivi noticed that the pendant at his throat was glowing a little, the same purple as the lines on the floor.
“But there might’ve been,” she countered, and he sighed, tipping his head back to study the ceiling.
“You asked me here with no idea of what we’d actually be facing,” Vivi went on, and he groaned, throwing up one hand.