Gavriel woke first.
Her blood was the reason. Still hot, still electric, still buzzing through his veins with enough voltage to drag him back to consciousness whether he wanted to come or go. His eyelids fluttered open, and the first thing he registered was warmth. The second thing was her body curled against his, her head tucked under his chin, her breath slow against his chest.
His arms were around her. They were both half-naked.
His breath caught. Heat climbed up his neck and kept climbing.
Fuck she was perfect.
Every inch of skin pressed against his was sending sparks through his nervous system like a live wire refusing to ground itself. He had wanted to hold her like this for so goddamn long, and now that he had her, the reality was so much better than the fantasy that his brain kept rejecting it as fraudulent.
He remembered hooking his arm around her waist and pulling her into this cave. Everything after that was fog.
