Page 129 of In Violent Waves

He dashed out after her; the chase heating his blood.

They ran and laughed.

He tickled, and she squealed.

But then the downpour started. Lyra raced for the willow, and he was right on her heels.

The rain awakened his senses. And she was intoxicating. Her scent sang to his blood as much as the land did.

“I thought you said we were safe here?” She shivered, rubbing a hand down her arm.

The rain had soaked her. The fabric of the light pink dress was now as dark as her lips.

“We are safe. It’s just rain.”

When she shivered again, he wrapped an arm low around her waist.

“What’re you doing?” She leaned away from him.

Wilder grinned down at her. “Did you forget what I taught you about body heat?”

She looked up at him, and her gaze darkened. Her eyes darted to his lips once more.

Wilder had to know what she tasted like.

“I like these,” he murmured, tracing a finger across the freckles on her nose.

“I hate them,” she breathed.

Wilder tilted his head. “Why?”

“They’re unsightly.”

He shook his head. “It just means you were kissed by the sun, but they remind me of the stars.”

Lyra leaned into his warmth, and he had to swallow the groan that built in the back of his throat.

His face lowered to hers as she raised her chin.

“Wilder,” she whispered.

His lips were a hairbreadth from hers. “Yes?”

“Kiss me.”

He complied with her order.

Pressing his lips with a gentle reverence to hers, he had to work to keep the fire in his veins at bay.

The feel of her against him was consuming him, and he couldn’t get enough.

He wrapped a hand in her wet hair and angled her face up to him.

She sighed in a happy, satisfied way.

And with that, he deepened the kiss, slipping his tongue inside her mouth and finally getting a taste. She was everything he dreamed she would be.

Wild and eternal. As sweet as the ripest berries, and as strong as a well-aged elixir.