He found his keys and unlocked his door. “So, where are we goin’, lass?” When she didn’t respond, he turned to her, keys dangling from his fingers.

She was staring at him strangely. 

“Wha’?” he asked. 

Her eyes narrowed in on his mouth. “Duncan?”

“Aye?”

“Why have you never tried to kiss me?”

He looked at her perfect, bonnie lips and his breath caught in his lungs. Och. He wanted to. The lass had no idea how much he wanted to. But…“It’s no’ that I dinna want tae.”

“Are you afraid of me?”

“No,” he answered immediately. But the word tripped on his tongue. “No,” he told her more forcefully. “I am no’.”

She stepped closer, and Duncan forced himself to hold his ground. He wasn’t afraid of a wee Faerie lass.

“I want to kiss you,” she said.

Before he could think of an argument as to why they shouldn’t do this, Duncan found himself with his back pressed against the side of his Jeep. Soft, womanly curves held him prisoner better than any steel bars ever could, and he knew, in that moment, how his mated brothers had never stood a chance against a Fae lass. 

Staring down at her, he tried again to come up with a good reason as to why they shouldn’t do this even though his heart was pounding near out of his chest and the air was having a hell of a time getting into his lungs. But all he could manage was, “I can no’, Ryanne.” The words were little more than a whisper. 

“I think you can, wolf.”

He gritted his teeth and shook his head back and forth.

She nodded hers. Then she put her hands behind his neck and pulled his head down until they were eye to eye. “I need to get you out of my system,” she whispered, so close he felt her words against his mouth more than heard them. “You’re distracting me from killing my father.”

He had no time to absorb what she’d just said, for then her lips were pressed to his, moving against his mouth insistently. Duncan growled low in his throat as her tongue swept in to tangle with his, and his fingers dug into the hard sides of the vehicle. 

He ached to hold her. Ached all the way down to his soul. Ached to wrap his arms around her and pull her in so tight neither of them would know where one stopped and the other began. And by the way she was biting at his lips and digging her fingers into the back of his neck, she wanted the same. But he couldn’t do it. It would be nothing but torture for him to hold her, knowing that’s all he would ever be able to do.

Instead, he forced himself to turn his head, breaking the kiss, and then, unable to stand even that much distance between them, pressed his cheek against hers. He fought to get his breathing under control enough so he was able to speak. “I can no’ do this, lass,” he whispered. “Please do no’ force me tae. Ye will break me like nothing else.” And this was something he knew in his bones, though he could not have said how.

She pulled away, her wee hands letting up just enough that she could look into his face. But Duncan kept his eyes downcast. He couldn’t look at her. Heat suffused his face as his muscles began to tremble with the urge to run. Run away from this female who made him wish so desperately for things he couldn’t have. 

“Duncan…”

“Please dinna make me confess things tae ye, Ryanne. I could no’ stand it if ye looked upon me as any less o’ a male.” He clenched his jaw so hard his teeth ached and fought to swallow around the lump in his throat, fighting the surge of loneliness that assailed him as she pulled away. Loneliness he had no business feeling. 

He stayed as he was for long seconds, muscles tense, fighting his own cowardice. He wanted to jump into the Jeep and drive away. Run as far as he could.

But he would not, could not, leave her here like that. 

Finally, she said, “I would appreciate a ride, if the offer is there.”

He exhaled long and slow. “Aye,” he said, sadly. “O’ course it is.”

“Okay. Thank you.” But she stayed where she was. “Duncan…”

He squeezed his eyes shut, the pain like a clamp around his chest. “Please, Ryanne. Do no’. I beg o’ ye.”

A few seconds later, he heard her boots walking away from him as she went to the other side of the Jeep. He tried to inhale, to take a breath, but the loss of her was like ripping the skin from his body. 

Twisting his head to either side until he felt the bones pop in his neck and his wolf settle down again, he shot a look around the lot, but thankfully it was empty. 

One hand on the door handle, he took a shaky breath. Then he yanked open the door and climbed in.