“Was the squadron leader your father?”
“He was Chief Inquisitor before me.” Riley gave her a curt nod, his entire face contorting with pain and regret. “He jumped in front of the blast, taking the hit for me while also delivering the killing shot to the dark wizard we were chasing. All I got was a graze to the hip.”
“Oh, Riley. I’m so sorry.” She hugged him tightly, burying her face once again into the nook of his shoulder.
Riley squeezed her as if he was allowing himself a moment of weakness, but then he went rigid again in her arms and kept talking through the mental bond. “That’s why I can’t have anyone fall in love with me. It wouldn’t be fair to them. It wouldn’t be fair to you.”
Mila let out a bitter chortle in her head. “Sorry to break it to you, Chief Inquisitor King, but it might be a little too late for that.”
Riley didn’t respond to her in words. Maybe re-living the death of his father had left him even more open and vulnerable than he already was, but as he tangled his fingers in her hair next, Mila was literally flooded with love.
The emotion was identical to the one already swelling in her chest, but feeling also his side of it made their love almost unbearable.
“I should take you home,” Riley whispered.
“What?” Mila pulled back. “You still don’t want to pursue this?” A fear, dark and all-consuming, worse than the one Riley had experienced facing death, reared its head inside Mila’s chest. “Riley, I literally just felt how you feel about me. You can’t be serious.”
“Mila we can’t, I can’t. I can’t be on the job every day terrorized of what it’d do to you if something happened to me.”
The words cut deep. She took a step back, slipping out of his arms and gasping for air. “Riley, you can’t shut yourself off from love. You deserve to feel loved and to give love in return.”
Riley’s eyes were dark and unfathomable as he stared back at her. “Love comes with a cost, Mila. You saw what happened to my mom. I can’t let that happen to you.”
Mila shook her head, determination setting in. “Yeah, your mother became a widow young, too young. But, Riley, I bet that if you asked your mom if she could have that pain pulled free of her at the price of never having loved your dad, she’d say no.”
Riley’s mouth quirked up into a small smile. “She would say no.”
“Exactly,” Mila said, taking a step closer. “Love is worth the risk, Riley. You can’t let fear control your life and emotions.”
“I don’t know how to do that,” he whispered, his voice barely audible over the pounding of Mila’s heart in her chest.
“Take a chance with me,” she said, reaching out to intertwine her fingers with his. “Let me love you.”
Riley’s gaze softened, and he brought their joined hands to his lips, kissing her knuckles softly. “That’s not the problem; I can’t let you—”
“No,” Mila interrupted him. “What you can’t do is decide for me. If I still want to date a magical law enforcement agent, even after knowing all the risks, it’s my choice. The only decision you can make here is if you want to love me.”
Riley looked at her, a battle raging behind his dark irises. When his jaw settled into a hard, unforgiving line, Mila was sure she’d lost. But then his face assumed the most tortured look of the night, and letting out a frustrated groan, he closed the distance between them.
His hands went to cup her cheeks while his mouth crashed onto hers. The kiss was equally desperate and tender, filled with all the longing and fear they’d both been holding back. Mila’s heart was pounding so hard that she was almost dizzy, but she felt alive like she never had before. She clung to Riley, kissing him back just as fiercely as he was kissing her, melting into his embrace, feeling every inch of his body pressed against hers.
The tension in his shoulders slowly relaxed as he deepened the kiss, exploring every corner of her mouth with a feverish need.
Riley’s hands moved from her face, slowly and deliberately tracing the contours of her body. No, not just his human hands, but his aerial ones as well, until Mila felt like every inch of her body was being cherished and caressed by him. Electric sparks traveled up and down every nerve in her body each time his fingers—flesh or air—grazed against her skin.
Yet, it wasn’t enough. When Riley started trading gentle bites mixed with kisses down her neck, Mila felt like she was about to explode with pleasure. But she captured his mouth with hers once again, kissing him like she never wanted to stop.
And maybe Riley didn’t want her to ever stop either, because he moaned loudly into her mouth, and pulled her up into his arms until she was seated on the back of the couch, her legs wrapped around his waist and their bodies almost fused together.
Now Riley started trailing butterfly kisses from her lips down her jaw as he slipped his hands underneath the fabric of her sweater, his fingers exploring her naked skin. The light touches slowly morphed into needy, possessive caresses.
It was sweet agony, and Mila never wanted it to end.
The kiss seemed to last an eternity, but when they pulled away from each other, gasping for air, Riley rested his forehead against hers. They stayed locked together like that while resting their foreheads against one another’s, taking a moment to process what had just happened between them—or at least Mila was.
“I can’t promise it won’t be hard,” he breathed out. “But I do want to love you.”
His eyes were the clearest she had ever seen them, no fear or regret hiding there now, only a burning plea for understanding that nearly made her cry out with its intensity.
Mila smiled softly, feeling tears well up in her eyes. “That’s all I could ever ask for.”
They stayed like that for a few more moments, simply holding each other, until Riley finally kissed her again.
Tender at first, then with renewed passion. When he almost pushed her over the couch in his quest to keep their bodies flush, he pulled back.
“Maybe we should move this to my bedroom,” he said.
“That sounds like a great idea,” Mila half-chuckled, half-whispered, breathless with need and aching with desire.
He scooped her up and carried her bride-style down the hallway to his bedroom, gracefully dropping her on the hard mattress while still cradling her, looking down her body like it was the best gift he’d ever received.
But then his eyes darkened, and it became clear he wanted more, that the clothes covering her had become his enemy.
With a wicked smirk, Riley let his aerial hands do the dirty work, and Mila’s jeans began to unbutton and unzip as if by magic—well, by actual magic. Those wicked hands were already pulling her pants down her legs, while Riley never stopped kissing her.
Mila had no trouble following suit. She sunk her hands under his sweatshirt and helped him pull it over his head.
Now they were both undressing each other, hands fumbling over buttons and zippers as they kissed and bit each other’s lips, mouths, and throats.
When their bodies finally came in contact, Mila felt like she might burn from the inside out with pleasure. The feverishly light touches Riley was tracing all over her body were sweet torture of the best kind, but she needed more.
She needed him.
“Please, Riley,” she begged him, her fingers digging into his silky hair. And then, when she thought she would explode with agony if he kept denying her, Riley pulled her back from her trance.
“Look at me,” he ordered.
She did. He stood still over her for an unbearably long instant, and then finally gave her what she craved: their bodies were joined just as their souls would be for all eternity.