Free Noble Hearts (Wild Hearts Romance Book 3) by Phoenix Sullivan Page A

where each breath could lift its strands in gentle waves. “ To you,” I whispered.
    She went still, her body language unreadable.
    Every muscle in my body contracted uncomfortably as I waited for her response—any response.
    Had I confessed too much too early?
    Had I dared too far?

CHAPTER 11

KAYLA
     
    I bit my lower lip, not from any doubt as every muscle in my body made me feel quite sure I needed him as much as he professed he needed me—physically. Watching him help funnel milk into the bottles and screw on the nippled lids also triggered emotions from deep within that had nothing to do with simple sex, though, and all to do with something he didn’t have right now to give, at least not here with me—time to build any sort of a future.
    A week, two weeks maximum, and he’d be gone. Eleven thousand kilometers away. Despite my body’s best efforts to assure me otherwise, sex without intimacy and the promise of greater possibilities would be hollow and ultimately unfulfilling. Disappointing even. At least it would be, with a partner like Mark—someone with whom my hormones seemed to connect. Someone who made more than just my skin tingle when he breathed over it through full and sensual lips.
    There was no question the pleasure we could have together. But I feared its cost. The greater the pleasure short-term, the deeper and longer the pain when he left. An inverse proportionality that was as cold and rational as any equation. Or like drugs, I thought, to any addict. The higher the high, the worse the withdrawal. The only way to prevent the plunge on the other side was to say no to the ride up in the first place.
    But where did the strength to say no over and over when my body was demanding yes come from?
    When his lips were so near mine? When his dark eyes were bright with invitation? When long fingers promised intimate caresses? When that broad chest offered a personal playground to explore? And when the shadowed, hidden length of him twitched with the vow of profound passion?
    All it would take to start us on a path of blinding, insatiable hunger would be a single, whispered word. A word begged from me by the depths of my own desires. A word that was perfect, simple, sublime…
    “No.” I whispered that other word as gently as I could.
    The hurt that sprang into his eyes deserved an explanation no matter how difficult putting my reasoning into words might be. And this man deserved more than an it’s not you, it’s me . “What you’re asking me—”
    “Is too much too soon?” He was trying to be helpful, but he so didn’t get it.
    “Is not enough.”
    His eyes darkened as the pain in them smoldered away to be replaced by stung pride.
    “You haven’t seen how much— Oh, that’s not what you mean, is it?”
    I handed him the rhino’s bottle, scooped up the other two bottles along with a handful of dog treats and the gorilla’s squeaky banana, held my hand out to Jengo, and motioned Mark out the door. He held it open while Gus, Jengo and I trooped out.
    Baby rhino and okapi bleats greeted us from the paddock fence.
    “You,” I told him as we walked down to the gate, “are a gorgeous man. I’m beginning to suspect you have an equally gorgeous heart and soul, as well. I’m also pretty sure how much of that you have,” I threw a quick look and smile in the direction of his that , “is more than adequate.”
    “But—?”
    I opened the gate and the okapi charged past us in a dazzle of stripes, coming to an inpatient halt a few dozen kilometers out by the edge of the forest. Tamu trotted through, flicking her tail with excitement.
    “But you’ll be leaving soon. When I do the math, short-term fun doesn’t stack up against long-term disappointment.”
    “Even without strings?”
    “In my world, there are always strings. And every string leads to a loss. My mother. My father. Lisha soon. These orphans.” We settled in the clearing, and I handed Jengo his bottle before Tamu and Nyota came