Free No Time to Cry (Nine While Nine Legacy Book 1) by Stasia Morineaux Page A

fading
away.
    And I couldn’t resist.
     I leaned forward, his jean clad
thigh grazing my waist as I shifted in closer to his outstretched body, that
wonderful face. Softer than Gideon’s, yet just as strong. The sun slanted
through the window behind the chair, beams of warmth streaked across us,
soothing, inviting. The rays were hitting the top of his head, warming the
colors of his hair, bringing out the red and gold in his light brown shaggy
mane.
    I very softly ran my fingertips along
his jaw, his bottom lip. My eyes lingering there, remembering the good part of
yesterday, before I ran, before things became even more deeply confusing.
    His eyelids flickered open and it only
took two heartbeats for him to slide his hands into my hair and pull me to him.
“You’re awake,” he spoke softly against my mouth, relief in his voice. His
mouth hovered over mine, resisting.
     I attempted to move into his, but
his hands held my head immobile. His breath was warm on my lips. He pulled
slightly away, looked in my eyes, there was relief there too. No anger.
    “I wasn’t sure if you’d wake up,” he
breathed. It was so nice not to see any self reproach on his face, or temper in
his eyes.
    “I don’t know what happened,” I told
him. “I was yelling at Gideon…and then I was dizzy…falling.” I shrugged. His
face was too close not to be kissed, and I was overly conscious of every inch
of where our bodies touched; his thigh against my waist, my arm against his
side, the other alongside his shoulder. His hands holding my face.
    “Ah, sod it,” he growled before he
pulled me in and kissed me, obliterating from my mind any thought of asking him
what I’d heard, about being different, not human, not—
     One arm went around my waist and
tugged me gently to collapse against his chest and stomach. My arms circled him
and I was lost in him again.
    Nothing else mattered.
    Too soon, always too soon, I felt him pulling
away from me, his mind clearing. Once again the idea that we were not supposed
to be doing this interrupted my escape and my bliss.
    “Why do you have to be so hard to
resist?” He asked into my hair.
    Oh here we go again. My heart dipped. I
sighed. He was pushing me away, standing up, pulling me to stand with him. “So
don’t.” No no no ! My
mind objected, my body right along with it.
    “I have to.” He stepped away from me.
“This was my fault, I know better. I was so relieved to see you awake and
so…I’ll admit it, pleased to see you where you just were…” He gestured towards
the chair, but I knew he meant between his legs, leaning over him. “I didn’t
think. I couldn’t think, didn’t want to.” He rubbed both of his hands through
his hair, paced. “But I have to. I can’t keep doing this.”
    I just stood there, dazed. This morning
had started out mere moments ago and I’d woken, surprisingly, in a good mood.
Almost hopeful. Happy to be lost in his kisses again. Happy to see the
reservation gone from him.
    And now here it was again.
    “Iliana…”
    The sound of that name, my name now,
made me flinch.
    “This isn’t a good idea. This…” he
gestured between the two of us, “is not supposed to happen.”
    “Why?” I breathed, exasperated, heart
sinking.
    “I don’t want to simply shag you, or be
your diversion from what you’re in the midst of.”
    I tried to interrupt him, to tell him it
was more than that, more than what he was saying.
    “No, let me finish, please. I understand
how much you’re hurting, how confusing, how bloody messed up it all is. But you
said it yourself; I make you remember better times. I make you feel like who
you used to be. Maybe that is not such a great thing. Maybe that’s not enough.
You need to become whoever it is you are meant to become.”
    He barely looked at me.
    I was numb, struck dumb and mute by his
words. Being with him felt good, not just when we were kissing. We hadn’t had
that much time, but being stuck in a car for almost