Page 64 of Twilight of Embers
Something told me he already knew. “Nineteen.”
“Start kindergarten late?”
Cillian was still close. So near I could feel the heat coming off his body in waves. It was a kind of proximity that made it hard to answer these kinds of questions honestly.
I shook my head. “Had to repeat a year after my parents died.”
The truth was that my nightmares had been so bad I’d been institutionalized for a couple of months.
Cillian’s jaw went rock hard. “I’m sorry, Little Flame.”
I shrugged, unsure of what else to say.
His hand moved then, coming to my waist and resting there. The heat flared again, pulsing between us. “Why did you come here tonight?”
There was such genuine curiosity in his voice that I found myself answering. “I wanted to know what it’s like to be a normal girl.”
Those green eyes swirled again, and his hand dropped from my waist. But instead of pulling away, Cillian took my hand and pulled me close. “You want normal?”
My mouth went dry, but I nodded.
“Dance with me.”
32
HAYDEN
The heat from Cillian’s palm pulsed against my skin. It was as if it were a living, breathing thing. This phantom energy that swirled between us.
His dark green eyes flashed with heat, with challenge, with promise. “Come on, Little Flame, scared I’ll bite?”
Yes. I was scared he’d do more than bite. And I was scared I’d get addicted. But I found myself nodding anyway.
There was a flash of white teeth against the pulsing lights of the club, and I had the sneaking suspicion I’d just made a deal with the devil.
Cillian tugged me away from the bar, and I hurried to set my drink on the counter. He didn’t struggle to make his way through the crowd. People parted for him. Maybe it was his size, maybe it was the cold calculation that always seemed to live on his face, but everyone simply moved out of his way.
He came to a stop in the middle of the dance floor. The song changed to a more sultry tune. It still had a heavy bass, but it was slower paced. He pulled me into him, his hard, muscular body pressed against my softer one.
My heart raced as I looked up into those dark green eyes. “I kissed Knox.”
There was the faintest twitch of Cillian’s lips. Or maybe I just imagined it.
“I know.” Cillian swayed our bodies to the beat as if he’d been dancing all his life.
My eyes widened. “You…know…”
He nodded slightly. “I know.”
“I didn’t take Knox for a bragger,” I muttered. But maybe it was for the best. Everything was out in the open, despite the fact that I was feeling a pull toward all the men who lived in that house. Maybe I had a sex addiction I didn’t know about.
“He’s not,” Cillian said. “But we needed to know.”
My brow furrowed. “Why?”
Cillian’s fingers teased the bare skin of my back, sliding beneath the shirt to my waist. Each swipe of his callused thumb sent a cascade of sparks across my skin.
“We’re different, Little Flame.”
