I like this demanding Kerris, the one telling me to come to her bed. This night is already better than I anticipated. At least she is not trying to make me eat more cold slop.

I remove my boots, careful not to disturb her as I climb into the spacious bed. Instead of scooting away, she slots in right next to me and wraps one arm around my waist. Her head, she tucks into the crook of my neck and her leg…

She drapes it over one of mine, but her soft thigh is dangerously close to something that she does not wish to discuss.

If I do not stop thinking about the way her supple body feels against mine, I am afraid there will be no choice but to discuss it.

“You smell good,” she whispers against my neck, and I can feel her lips curve into another smile. “I enjoy filling my lungs with you.”

Not nearly as much as I enjoy filling my lungs with her sweetness. “I have new soap.” There is no point telling her that it belongs to Maddox since he is never getting it back.

“Well, I like it.” It could be my wishful imagination, but it feels as if she presses herself even closer. “I missed you.”

“You did?” How is that possible when she lives in such a grand place? It is a wonder she even remembers my name.

When she nods, her wild hair tickles my cheeks. “Today was an awful day.”

“Because I was not in it?”

Her laugh is a puff against my neck and an arrow to my heart. “Someone is full of humor tonight.”

I am full of many things. Humor, certainly, but mostly need for this female who wishes only for friendship. “What made your day so awful?”

Her fingers begin to trace the bones of my necklace the way they did at the outpost. Occasionally, the soft tips graze my skin, and I am set ablaze.

“I’m not sure I should tell you,” she whispers.

Nonsense. “My ears are very good at listening.”

“If only all men were like you,” she murmurs under her breath, but I hear every word.

See. Good at listening.

“I was seeing someone briefly,” she says a little louder, “and at one point, I thought the two of us might marry.”

My hands tighten into fists at my sides. Perhaps I do not wish to hear after all. Curse these ears of mine. Why must they listen so well?

Kerris’s hand falls to my chest, her palm landing on my heart. Does she feel how it beats for her?

“But it turns out,” she goes on, “he is a liar and a wretch.”

Thank the gods. If she were getting married, it would take all my self-control not to steal her away for myself.