Unleashing Chaos

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Four movies and plenty of stolen kisses later, and I'm ready to crawl out of my skin. Jace and I haven't wanted to leave our little bubble in the living room. Inside the sheets and buried between the pillows, we can pretend that the inevitable isn't inching closer. We get lost in wandering hands and the warmth of skin on skin. I wish I could cling to him, body and soul, and keep him with me always. God, if it were only that easy.

Jace turns off the television and rolls to his side. Propping his head up with one arm, he stares down at me and runs his fingers through my hair. "Unless you want to stay hidden in here, I have something else I'd like to do with you. I don't need to ask if you've ever done it before, because I know you haven't."

Excitement blooms in my chest and I sit up, crossing my legs underneath me, bouncing up and down. "I don't want to stay hidden. I want to do whatever you have planned."

"Put on something warm and comfortable and meet me in the backyard."

I jump up with a wide smile and say, "All right."

Twenty minutes later, I'm dressed in fleece-lined leggings and a thick sweatshirt. I step out the back door and find snowflakes drifting to the ground and clinging to the trees on the outskirts of the yard. Steam rises from the surface of the pool as the lights gradually change the color of the water. Just off the patio a fire crackles in the firepit, its flames reaching for the darkening sky. Jace faces the fire from inside a cream-colored teepee. He tilts his head to the side, motioning me over.

I crawl in next to him and run my palms over the soft white fur blanketing the ground. Like the tent inside, he has lined this one with pillows. He hands me a long metal skewer and opens a bag of marshmallows. 

"You said it never snows in Infernis, so I thought we would spend some time out here," he says.

"Hidden away in another tent?"

He chuckles and stabs a big, fluffy marshmallow on the end of his skewer. "It was a coincidence. I was just thinking about keeping us sheltered from the snow and nosy neighbors."

I repeat his action with the marshmallow and the skewer he offers me, and when I glance at him, I wiggle my eyebrows. "Nosy neighbors, huh? What do they have to be nosy about? Will we be doing something that would be inappropriate for their eyes?"

"I'm not against it. When will you get another chance to fuck in the snow?"

My skin flushes, and I'm pretty sure I'm the temperature of the flames and my insides are melting like the marshmallow I'm roasting. "Never," I whisper, reaching over and running my fingertip over his bottom lip.

He kisses my fingertips and drops his treat into the fire. His hand slides behind my neck and he pulls me to him. The movement of his lips is slow but the passion behind his kiss searing. His tongue glides along my mouth, coaxing me to open for him. I don't hold back. The taste of him floods my mouth with mint and sugary marshmallow.

I groan into his kiss and lie back, pulling him on top of me, spreading my legs to allow him space to settle between them. We separate for air, and he tucks a strand of hair behind my ear, his eyes searching my face.

"What?" I ask, my voice raspy with need. "What is it?"

He sighs and leans into me, planting kisses down my jawline and on my neck. His mouth drifting back up toward my ear, he murmurs, "I just don't think I will ever find another woman as beautiful as you as long as I live, Desideria. It just won't be possible."

A laugh escapes my throat, but his compliment pierces my heart in a way I don't expect. "Come on, Jace. There are plenty—"

He rests a finger against my lips and shakes his head. "You really think your beauty is just about your face?" He grins and runs his hand down the curve of my waist. "This body?" His finger leaves my mouth and his hand slides into my hair. "These wild curls? All of that is unmatched, yes. But your beauty radiates from in here," he says, flattening a palm against my sternum. "Your heart and soul contain more beauty than this entire realm could ever hold."