Derive by Jamie Magee Read Free Book Online Page B

these emotions was a brutal one.
    “He told me to stare into the pools of water. To see it all. To take one last glance at my course…I did…and then the next thing I remember is you.”
    My eyes locked with hers. I was doing my best to commit the memories she had in her tracers to my mind. They had all but faded now. The only thing that remained was the emotions, emotions that my body wanted to act on, that logic said could not happen because I just met her in this present day.
    I pulled my hands away and played that beat on my thighs. Rat-a-tat-tat.
    “You feel the music now?”
    “I think I always have,” I mused to myself as I rehashed the visions of her. The only time I had ever seen her at peace was when she, too, played music, a haunting violin that mimicked the sound of her life at that moment. It was what she used to cope in those visions. Apparently, we shared that trait, that addiction to hearing emotions in rhythmic sound.
    I had to smile inwardly; my mother, the only other woman I had ever loved in my life, played that instrument as well. Suddenly, I didn ’t feel as divided from her as I once had; I even felt like less of a flaw in my father’s lineage.
    Skylynn looked down at her hands, running her thumbs across her tender fingertips. I didn ’t know much about musicians, only what Cashton had spoken about, but I knew she was lacking the marks on her hands, the calluses that were the war wounds of those that created sound.
    I bit my lip as I absorbed all that I had seen. I called lucidity to my defense. In any case, any situation, if you know that the path is wrong, or corrupt, it is only natural to avoid it.
    I didn’t know how we managed to get ourselves lost in the life plan she saw, but I could not bear the idea of her being weak, of her being a pushover, someone that was taken advantage of.
    I reached for her chin, gently raising it so her eyes would meet mine. The speech or plan I was about to say escaped my mind, and my body took over. I leaned into her. My eyes were focused on those rose-tinted lips. My heart was thundering as I pulled her chin to me, as I let my lips fall between the flesh of hers. A volt of seductive, inviting energy wove through me, a mix of hers and mine.
    I was right before: the water was a cruel barrier, the life-saving moment was a distraction. This feeling was pure. It was scorching. I would swear to you that I could feel the beat of her heart under the flesh of her lips.
    She sighed as the tension left her body. I took that as an invitation and swept my tongue across the divide of her lips. I opened my mouth and dared to deepen this kiss. The subtle groan that she let surface in her throat was the key to the lock that was holding my control at bay. I dropped her chin and reached for her waist, pulling her onto my lap, finding that she did fit perfectly in the cage of my arms.
    Her hands moved through my hair as she began to lose her control as well. She was starting to lead this kiss, and I let her. I spent every day, all day leading others, and I wanted to be led right now. I wanted to be submissive to every desire of her being, and I refused to let logic tell me to gain control, to think first, that we were strangers.
    Through the passionate movement of her lips, I felt the emotions we had witnessed. I felt like this was not a first kiss, but the kiss that well-practiced lovers give when they find each other once more.
    When I moved my hands across her back, she sighed and leaned her head back. I took it as a request and moved my lips to her neck, quickly finding myself intoxicated by her scent—that pure ivory scent. I was the one letting near silent groans out now. Instinct took over, and before I knew it I had her lying under me on the settee.
    The only thing that stopped me from wrapping her legs around me was when I caressed her face with my hand and felt another tear. I slowed my kiss, then moved my lips to her cheek, stopping that rivulet of pain. She