Her hands went to the fly of his jeans.
His brows shot up. “Whoa! Here? Now?”
She smiled up at him. “What better time?” But her hands stilled on his belt. “Think how you would have me do it, Josh. Imagine how the buckle comes apart. Dream how the edges unseal to release your desires.”
Blood pooled hot and heavy in his cock.
In his chest, his heart strained with equal yearning. This was not the place for them. Here, under the lies was only this cold, hard, steel gray. They should be back in his valley, the sun shifting to stars as they made love through an entire day and night.
“That’s it,” she crooned. “You want it. And I want you. It’s up to you, Josh, my love. Believe it.”
As his belt buckle clicked open, he grabbed her and swooped down for a tongue-tangling, breath-stealing, soul-searing kiss. She threw herself into his embrace, knocking him into the steel doors behind him.
Which swung apart at their touch.
He staggered backward, clutching Adelyn to his chest. “How—?”
“You know metal, and metal knows you. How else do you make such beautiful pieces? They love you. But not as much as I do.”
She yanked the doors closed behind them. Ahead of them, pines grew in a tight circle, needled boughs towering into darkness.
“This is one of the phaedrealii’s forever gates.” Adelyn took his hands in hers and stared up at him. “Your heart brought you to me, Josh. Now I want to go home. To your valley. To your bed. Take me there.”
She lifted herself to her toes, and the serpents flowed back from her face.
He plunged his hands into the tangle of scales and kissed her.
The sound of a dog barking interrupted.
Josh pulled back. “Wolly?” A bundle of bristling red fur and stub tail butted his knees, and he stared around in confusion. These trees were not in a circle, and between the trunks, the white glow of snow in evening light lit the scene. “I say again, how—?”