They both paused, like characters in the cartoons his sisters used to watch on weekends, and an awkward silence stretched between them.
He was the first to recover. Shifting on the bench to see her better, he clasped her hand between his and rested their joined hands on her thigh. His soul delighted in their closeness.
“Go ahead, princess,” he murmured. “What did you want to say?”
Her cheeks flushed at the nickname, and the urge to capture her lips with his filled him. Fuck, he wanted to kiss her more than he’d ever wanted anyone else in his entire life.
River licked her lips, and he could’ve sworn that tears lined her eyes. Before he could be sure, she dropped her gaze to her lap and stared at their joined hands. Cast in moonlight, she had an ethereal look about her. A goddess of old, she was as beautiful as she was powerful.
“No, it’s okay,” she murmured. “I—it can wait. What did you want to say?”
He drew in a deep breath, attempting to calm the suddenexplosion of nerves in his stomach. This wasn’t like him—he couldn’t remember the last time he’d been nervous about a conversation.
But this wasn’t just any conversation, and he wasn’t talking to just anyone.
This was River. Kind, intelligent,powerfulRiver. The object of his desires that he’d pushed away for years. She was smaller than him, but he didn’t think for a moment that meant she was fragile.
No, River was a massive storm contained in a small package.Hisstorm, if he had anything to say about it.
Keeping one hand on hers, with the other, he reached inside the suit jacket still on her shoulders. That stormy gaze tracked his movements as he pulled out the small box that he’d kept on him since leaving Lakewater.
It fit in the palm of his hand, and he cradled it, lifting his eyes back to hers. Her mouth fell open in an O, those luscious lips calling to be kissed. Begging to be tasted.
Soon, he told himself.
Soon, he would feel her lips against his. Those lips that teased him, taunted him. The lips he dreamed about having wrapped around his?—
Stop.
There was an order to things, a proper way to navigate moments like these. Even with his modest upbringing, Nikhail had always considered himself a gentleman. One step at a time. He would give her his gift and share his feelings, then he’d kiss her.
Or she’d reject him and leave him to pick up the shattered pieces of his heart. But at least then, she’d know where he stood, and everything would be off his chest.
One way or another, four years of yearning were coming to an end.
CHAPTER 17
Everything Else be Damned
Nikhail was holding a black box in his palm, and River couldn’t stop staring at it.
This was a very specific kind of black box. The kind that people had in movies when they bought very expensive things. The kind that housed bracelets and charms andrings.
Oh, gods.
River’s heart pounded wildly, slamming against the walls she’d erected around them. Each boom threatened to be the one that would obliterate her last defenses.
Why had she danced with Nikhail? He had entranced her with his graceful air fae ways, and she’d forgotten her resolve to keep him at arm’s length.
So much for her plan. Every good intention she’d had was gone, and now she was staring at a black jewelry box.
Why did Nikhail have this box, and why in the gods’ names was he looking at her as if she were the center of his universe? River’s head spun, and she gulped air greedily, trying to understand how one dance had turned intothis.
Stupid.
She’d been so incredibly stupid. Or had she been cocky? Maybe that’s what had happened to her. Either way, she’d made a mistake.
She had let her guard down because of the way he made her feel. Her curse had slumbered while she danced in his arms, and for a few precious moments, she’d forgotten that it existed. Swept away by Nikhail, she’d felt at peace for the first time in years.