Heart of Ice • The Witcher

Chapter 10 • The Almost-kiss

   She couldn't believe she'd almost kissed him while they were in the bath and NAKED. It had to have been from the heat of the moment, there was no other feasible explanation as to why she would want to kiss him. She'd never kissed, nor been with someone so intimately before. Her hormones were probably going crazy being around someone so attractive as him and her body was probably picking up on his pheromones. That was it, it had to be. It's not like she actually liked him or anything, that would be insane. 

   But was it any more insane than her current situation? Being hunted by a murderous queen, traveling the kingdom with an alcoholic dwarf and strangely attractive Witcher, a Witcher she was currently laying next to in a bed that had been defiled by the alcoholic dwarf and a questionable woman. 

   The answer was no. Liking him would not be more insane considering everything else. Liking him would be surprising and possibly a problem if her feelings escalated from just liking to loving. Liking him would be a risk and adventure she wasn't quite sure she wanted to have. Liking him would be new and exciting, something she could do without due to her current situation. Liking him would mean consequences she couldn't even begin to imagine. But despite that all, despite everything, liking him was something she knew she couldn't keep denying. 

   After Garrison had interrupted their possible first kiss by joining them in the bath with his lady friend who took a strong liking to Geralt the moment she laid eyes on him, Anaya had hurried out of the bath with her cloak wrapped tightly around her and ran to their room. To take her mind off what had just happened with Geralt - the looking, the touching, the talking - she changed into a clean dress Geralt had picked up for her from the trading post and cleaned the room as best as she could. 

   Geralt and Garrison had come in shortly after, conversing about things Anaya wished she hadn't heard. 

   "Told you she would pay me," Garrison said, tossing a small pouch of coins in the air.

   "What could you possibly have done to her that made her pay you, her customer?" Geralt asked, glancing over at Anaya whose eyes had been fixated on the floor from the moment they entered. She couldn't bring herself to make eye contact with him. 

   "Wouldn't you like to know, Witcher. You may possess many skills I do not, but I have one reserved for only those special ladies whom I wish to spend the night with. Aya could find out... if she wanted to," Garrison said, smirking at Anaya. 

   "Not in a million years," Anaya said, dryly. 

   "You'll come around eventually, they all do," Garrison said and then proceeded to climb into the armchair to prepare himself for the night. "Oh, how long it had been since I thrust myself into the depths of a woman!"

   "How deep could he have gone?" Geralt said, forcing Anaya to stifle a laugh.

   After that, they had blown out most of the candles and gotten into bed which is where they resided now. Anaya hadn't moved in inch after laying next to Geralt and neither had he. She knew he was awake, he wasn't snoring like he had been the previous night, so something was keeping him up making her wonder if it was the same thing keeping her up. Although for her it was both her aching leg and their almost-kiss, she knew it had to have been their encounter in the bath keeping him from sleep. 

   But was it the fact they'd almost kissed? When he admitted he thought she was beautiful? When she admitted she found him attractive? When she implied he slept around? When she'd splashed him? When he'd grabbed her? When his hands roamed her body and pushed her head towards his lips.

   Waaaaiiiiit just a moment!

   The almost-kiss wasn't her doing. It wasn't because of her hormones or his pheromones. It was because of him! His hands were the ones doing all the talking. His hand was the one that had slipped into her hair and pushed her head down towards his lips. She hadn't been the one to initiate anything. The almost-kiss was his doing! He wanted it!