Page 131 of In Violent Waves

Wilder stirred in his sleep. Opening and closing his hand as if he were reaching for something. Lyra looked over her shoulder at him. Sensing his need, she placed her hand in his, and he drifted back off to sleep.

She traced small circles over the top of his hand. Long fingers and tan skin stretched taut over bulging veins. They were elegant and yet powerful. She had watched him kill humans with these hands. And had also watched him pluck a flower for her.

She didn’t want to think about what she was feeling for him. Although her intention had been to burrow under his skin, he had somehow managed to get under hers. And that kiss.

Her heart leapt at the memory of his lips on hers, his body against hers. Lyra ghosted her fingertips along her lips and felt the warmth pool low in her belly before she shook her head andreached for her book. She had to get him off her mind before it consumed her completely.

Lyra opened her book with one hand. But it took her a while to sink back into the story. It was another romance, likeThe Knight in Shining Armorhad been, but different.

The romance had started from the very first page in this story, and she was having a hard time relating. She thought of romance as something that needed to build and grow, not something that was instantaneous. But these characters had fallen in love the moment they set eyes on each other, and their story was a happy one.

That was something else she was having a hard time relating to. There was no challenge, nothing to overcome. It didn’t feel authentic. Life was a struggle.

The man in the story was ravishing his new wife. Worshipping her with his tongue as she lay splayed wide open on their bed. Lyra shifted in her seat and brought the book up closer.

Her hand tightened its grip on Wilder’s, which in turn roused him. She was too engrossed in the book to realize he was watching her. She continued reading about how the husband brought his wife euphoric pleasure, her eyes darting across the page as she nibbled on her bottom lip.

It was intriguing, and she felt a heat pool in the bottom of her belly, but she couldn’t quite figure out the logistics of it. Was he actually eating her? And if he was, why did she like it?

“Good story?” Wilder asked.

Lyra squeaked and slammed the book shut. She tried ripping her hand out of his, but he clung to her.

He chuckled, raising a brow and looking from her to the book she tucked under her leg.

Lyra cleared her throat before addressing him. “You’re awake.”

Wilder patted his chest with his free hand and looked around quizzically.

“I am?”

Lyra rolled her eyes and huffed a breath.

“What were you reading?”

She pursed her lips and shook her head.

Wilder gazed across the flush of her cheeks and the fluttering pulse on her neck.

“Do you want to tell me? Or do you want me to find out on my own?”

“Wilder,” Lyra breathed, shaking her head. “Don’t.”

He moved so fast. She blinked, and he already had the book open in his hand and was holding her at bay with the other. Lyra clawed at his chest from across the bench, trying to reach the book.

“His tongue traveled over her bundle of nerves,” he read aloud. His eyes widened, and his cheeks blazed with color. “Oh, Legs. My, my, what have you been reading?”

Lyra’s face burned as hot as the sun that was rising in the pastel sky.

“Wilder Vale, you put that book back right now!” she hissed, still trying to rip the book out of his hands.

He continued reading the explicit scene, and Lyra howled with mortification, giving up on reaching for the book and opting to cover her ears to keep from hearing.

Only when she saw his lips stop moving did she uncover them.

The smile on his face didn’t budge as she glared. Wilder shook the book in her vicinity, and she snatched it out of his hands.

“The romance section?” he asked with a laugh.