She tunneled her fingers through her hair as she rocked against him.
“Almost,” she breathed, throwing her head back.
“Come for me,” he murmured against her flesh.
“Yes,” Mikayla promised, painfully close to her fulfillment.
“Ciar?” Alina called out. “Ciar, where are you?”
Icy water dumped over her. Alina.
Ciar froze, his clever tongue stilling. For a moment neither of them moved, caught in the horror of reality intruding on their perfect embrace.
Mikayla knew the thoughts running through his head. No doubt they were the same as hers. Their games were fun, tempting, demanding.
But they didn’t give Ciar the answers he needed.
“Ciar?” Alina called again.
“Don’t,” Mikayla begged, barely able to think past her desperate need but knowing what would come next. “Please, stay with me. Don’t leave me like this.”
Ciar looked up and their gazes clashed. As intimately pressed together as they were there was no mistaking his desire to stay. But desire did not trump the steely look of determination that entered his eyes.
“Tell me the truth,” he demanded. “You know I want to finish what we’ve started. Tell me the truth and I’m yours.”
Pain slashed through her. All she wanted to do was whisper the words that begged to be spoken. But she knew without a doubt that her selfishness would only hurt him more.
“Ciar,” Alina called again, her voice less patient.
Ciar stroked his thumb across her folds. She bit her lip to keep from crying out.
“Everything you want, Mikayla. Any way you desire it. You know the price.”
When he touched her once more she nearly cried out whatever he wanted to hear. Her release was so close. Surely nothing mattered but shattering beneath his touch.
“Can’t,” she said with a gasp.
“Can,” he argued. “Tell me. Why is Alina here?”
She shook her head, her hips rocking against his hand despite herself.
“I’ll be yours,” he said in a silky voice. “Is it so much to pay?”
She remembered the steel in his eyes and knew his words were merely a temptation. He didn’t want her forever. Didn’t need her the way she needed him. He might desire her body but he wanted his answers more.
A small, pained moan escaped her before she could bite back the sound. Silently, she pushed her skirt down.
An inhuman growl rumbled from his chest before he shot to his feet. Mikayla nearly cried out at the loss of his touch. But she didn’t have time to deal with the need throbbing through her. Not when her lover stared at her with fury in his eyes.
“How can you do this?” he charged. “How can you bring us this far and deny us both?”
“All I deny are answers,” she tried. “You restrict the rest.”
He bared his teeth before striding back to her. Dropping his hands on the window seat on either side of her body, he pressed his face inches from hers. “You want me in your bed,” he hissed. “Your lover but not your confidant. Not someone you will trust.”
“I do trust you,” she tried, fighting the urge to reach for him. “And I’m begging you to trust me.”
For a moment neither moved. His gaze dropped to her lips and Mikayla wanted nothing more than to cross the distance between them and claim his mouth. But though he was close enough to feel his breath on her cheeks, he was further from her than ever.
“Damn you,” he snarled, whirling away from her. Without looking back at her, he stormed from the attic.
Mikayla pressed a hand to her mouth to muffle her cry of unfulfilled need. She knew she’d made the right choice but in this instant, all she felt was defeat.
* * * * *
Unfulfilled desire pulsed through Ciar as he strode away from Mikayla.
Bloody witches, he thought with a growl. She was the most infuriating female he had ever met. The last thing he wanted to be doing was walking away from her, but he couldn’t stay with someone who lied to him. Not again. The logic was cold comfort when he’d seen the plea in her eyes. He felt like a bastard for leaving her as he had, and he wasn’t a man who believed in regrets. How could she be so damn stubborn? Didn’t she understand he was offering far more than a rushed embrace in the attic? If she would just tell the truth he’d be hard-pressed to ever leave her side.
Stepping off the last stair he saw Alina peering into a bedroom, her back to him. There was a time when it would have been this woman he vowed devotion to. Looking at her now, the old desire did tug at his heart. He had loved her once, probably still did in some dark recess of his heart. She understood him. Was one of his kind.
Forcing a smile, he strode forward to meet her.