My Fated Mate Can Have Her-Chapter 178: Stolen Moment

Rowan

She shifted against me, her body warm and pliant where she lay half-sprawled across my chest. She planted one of her hands on my shoulder and hoisted herself up. I relaxed my arms around her to provide room for her to move.

She still stared up at the sky, I was guessing with that same blissful, vacant expression.

"The stars are breathing," she repeated, her voice soft and wondering.

I groaned, about to sit up and do something about this situation when she tilted her body to face me.

Her dark hair slipped over her neck to spill across my chest in soft waves.

The fireworks lit up the sky again, and the burst of light illuminated her face.

Her lips were slightly parted, full and soft, and her grey eyes reflected the colours exploding overhead, making them look almost silver.

Her cheeks were flushed from whatever she had drunk, and the rosy hue spread down her neck to her collarbone, disappearing beneath the neckline of her dress.

And that neckline...

The way she was angled against me, the fabric had shifted and pulled. The neckline gaped slightly where it shouldn’t. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

I could see the soft swell of her cleavage, the curved tops of her breasts pressed together, rising and falling with each breath she took. The skin there looked impossibly soft, flushed the same pink as her cheeks, and I could just make out the shadowed valley between them where the fabric dipped lower.

I tore my eyes away and forced myself to look at the sky instead, at the fireworks, or at anything else.

"Your muscles," she mumbled, her voice dreamy and distant.

I found her staring at my chest.

She pressed her other hand flat against it, right over my beating heart. Her brows twisted in concentration, like she was trying to solve a particularly difficult puzzle.

"That’s strange," she murmured, pressing harder.

Her fingers spread across the fabric of my shirt. Then she moved her hand, sliding it to a different spot and pressing again.

I went rigid and my mind went blank.

"They’re so soft."

What?

"They’re not supposed to be soft."

She poked at me again, then her fingers continued to move. Slow. Wandering. Tracing the lines of my chest through the material with an idle curiosity that sent a jolt straight to my groin.

Was she aware of what she was doing?

Her other hand dragged away from my shoulder to join the other in its mindless wander. She dragged it downward in a slow, languid stroke. My breath caught and heat pooled low in my stomach, settling into something heavy and aching.

I clenched my jaw, every muscle in my body going taut.

"Violet—"

Her fingers found the ridge of muscle along my ribs and followed it with agonising slowness, her touch featherlight and utterly maddening. A shudder rolled through me, and I felt my cock twitch in response, beginning to harden beneath her.

Another slow trace of her fingertips. Another shudder I couldn’t suppress.

She wasn’t doing this on purpose.

I knew that.

But my body didn’t care.

Every touch made my skin tingle, and the press of her palms made my pulse spike. And when her hand drifted lower, brushing just above my stomach, I nearly lost control entirely.

’I should stop her...’

But I didn’t move a muscle.

Her fingers traced upward again, skimming along my collarbone. Heat bloomed from every spot she touched, spreading outward until my entire body felt like it was burning.

She tilted her head slightly, her eyes unfocused but curious as they traced the path her fingers were taking. Her lips parted slightly, and I watched, transfixed, as her tongue darted out to wet them.

This had to stop.

Now.

I sat up abruptly, my hands shooting out to catch her wrists before she could continue her innocent torture.

My fingers trembled against her skin.

I held her hands away from me, fighting to steady my breathing. My cock throbbed painfully, straining against the confines of my trousers, and I prayed she was too far gone to notice.

"You need to stop."

She blinked up at me, uncomprehending.

And I made the mistake of meeting her eyes.

Her face was even more flushed, and her eyes stared up at me with such welcoming warmth that made something in my chest crack wide open.

I went completely still.

The festival roared around us. Music, laughter, and shouts. But all of it faded into nothing.

There was only her.

Only the way she was looking at me.

Only the way my body was screaming at me to close the distance between us.

I shouldn’t.

I knew I shouldn’t.

She was not in her right mind. This was wrong. It was—

The sky exploded.

Brilliant colours burst overhead, painting her face in shifting lights. The boom echoed through my chest, rattling my bones, but I barely heard it.

The festival noise faded to nothing.

The passing wolves ceased to exist.

The moment my lips touched hers, the world around us disappeared.

She tasted sweet, the lingering traces of whatever she had taken still clinging to her lips, and beneath that sweetness was something else. Something that was purely her.

My hands released her wrists, moving to her waist instead, and gripping her firmly as I pulled her closer.

She returned the kiss, and the shock of it nearly undid me.

Her lips moved against mine, slowly at first, before growing bolder. Her mouth opened beneath mine, and I took advantage immediately.

I tasted the sweetness on her tongue, felt the heat of her breath, and drank her in like I had been starving for this moment my entire life.

Her hands slid up my chest, and I groaned against her mouth as her fingers found my hair.

Her fingers threaded through the strands, slightly grazing my scalp. The sensation sent gentle tremors down my spine.

I shuddered, my grip on her waist tightening as she tugged gently on my hair, sending another wave of prickling sensation crashing through me.

Too much.

This was too much.

I groaned, low and involuntary, and panic flared in the back of my mind.

If she kept touching me like that, I wasn’t going to be able to stop.