If you haven't reached Ch 36 in Blood & Sunlight. This has spoilers. Enjoy :)
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Jade darted toward him. All the trees blended together. The twigs snapped under the soles of her boot. Her breath didn’t huff like it used to on their morning runs. Her legs didn’t ache with every stride. As she sprinted past him, her hands nudged Soran, making him stumble.
"Finally the slow poke, huh?" She smiled, turning back to him.
She could keep pace.
"You're really going to challenge an ageless? You realize I could blur past you and be sitting at camp before you take a breath?”
"But you won't." She stopped running. Instead of her heart racing, it was steady and she craved the morning runs. She craved any time with him.
"Is that so?" He closed the distance between them with a breath.
Jade gulped. The worst part was wanting to touch him, knowing she shouldn’t.
"You're far too fond of me to leave." She couldn’t help teasing him. It was far too easy to smile at his face softening. "That or you live to torture me with these damn runs."
Soran dragged his bottom lip in. "I think you have who tortures who, mixed up." He stepped into her space, forcing her to step back until her back bumped into the bark of the tree with nowhere else to go. "I keep waiting to hate it, but I'm left only wanting it." His breath hit her lips as his voice had a seductive tinge to it. “But please, enlighten me, princess, on how I’m torturing you when I see you jump up every morning to join me. That way I can ensure I keep doing it.”
Any words she had caught in her throat. An urge to grip his shirt and tug him into her hit her in waves.
"You were so talkative before, princess." His smile hooked to the side. "Second thoughts on challenging an ageless?"
"I'm not challenging a vampire. I'm challenging you."
His face drew back slightly. It was like she had caught him by surprise and he still wasn’t used to someone doing that.
Soran glanced off into the distance of endless trees. She was getting better at reading him. He wanted to say something but thought against it.
“How about we make it interesting? This race of ours.”
“What did you have in mind? You plan to show me something I already know?” Jade stepped into him, her chest brushing up against his. “Did it ever occur to you, I would teach you something?”
His smile grew, flashing one of his fangs. “Princess, you’d be a scandal in court if I had my way with you," he whispered in her ear with a rough gruff. “That’s not to say I wouldn’t thoroughly enjoy all of you.”
She craved to press her lips against his, not caring if this was another one of his ploys to toying with her for his own amusement or not. Things seemed to have changed ever since he promised to stay with her every night. She still wasn’t sure what to make of it. All she knew was she wanted to finish what they started the other night before Owen interrupted them.
Soran’s hand caressed over her ass, cupping it. Jade leaned in closer to close the distance between their bodies, when he pulled something from out of her back pocket. It was a small bar of Bhrath dark chocolate, she snuck in for an afternoon snack.
“We race for this,” he said, with a smirk catching the red filling her face.
“You said everything tastes like dirt to you.” She pursed her lips.
“Yes, but I can always offer this as a trade to the others for my share of chores.” He flipped the bar of chocolate into the air and caught it with ease. “I’d say the first one to the glade gets it.”
Jade’s fingers trailed down his chest as a soft hymn left her lips. “Such a strong brute. I’d hate to see you all broken after I beat you.”
It was like her words were all he needed to toss everything to the side. His restraint snapped and before she knew it, her back was up against the tree with his arm closing the side next to her. “Or we forget all of that and you show me that trick you're boasting about.”
Jade shoved him, taking him off his balance as she darted toward the glade with a laugh in her voice, “Or I get a head start and finally beat you.”
He chuckled behind her, quickly catching up. They tugged at each other, pushing back and forth between the trees, each one at some point having the advantage. As they reached the glade, their grip on one another to win at the last second, caused them to tumble in the grass.
As they rolled, they both laughed until they rested with her laying on top of him. She laughed, trying to catch her breath. “I’m saying you cheated.”
“You wish, princess.”
She went for the chocolate still in his grasp as he held it above his head, out of reach.
He paused for a moment like he allowed himself the opportunity to take her in. His hand brushed her hair back behind her ear as his gaze radiated through her. “I’d call that a draw. But you can have your chocolate. We both know there is something else I’d rather taste.” The way he said it made her entire body feel like a wave of electricity surged through it.
She still didn’t understand how he had this way of jostling her alive and tempting everything she wanted and all her caution for one moment with him. She was terrified it showed on her face, so she rested her head on his chest, hiding his view of her. She let out a heavy breath. "Wish it were berries."
"What are you doing?" Soran tensed, like she had pushed their game too far, and his chest tightened from the reminder of his promise to her: that one day, it would be different.
"I lied." She laughed to herself, falling back into the push and pull they had created. "I actually am really tired. I still kind of hate running." Her chest rested heavier on him. As long as they didn’t acknowledge it, they could play with one another. She could bask in him for a few moments longer.
He laughed, and it rumbled over her, caressing her like silk. "And here I thought you were beginning to like our runs."
"I do." She shifted her frame more comfortably on top of him and she matched the rhythm of his breathing with hers as she let the words slip, "You just feel so good."
He wrapped his arm around her. "A little break won't hurt."
"You sure?" she asked, already closing her eyes with no intention of leaving. She was already fighting the urge to trail her hand down his chest to play with the loops on his belt.
"I'm tired of fighting for a bit." His hand caressed down her back. He closed his eyes, as if he enjoyed the warmth of the sun hitting his face and feeling the warmth of her. "There's no place I'd rather be right now."
For a long while, they allowed themselves to drown in each other's warmth.
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