It took everything in me not to try to claw off her armor, but I knew it would get me nowhere. Miranda’s defenses had become a second skin, and she hated being naked. But fucking hell and godsdammit, I wanted her naked in every way. Bare and vulnerable, just so I could show her I’d be the only armor she ever needed from the world.
We circled each other, the tension palpable in the dimly lit alley. Each of Miranda's attacks was faster, more precise, pushing me to dodge with a grace I reserved for battles of a higher stake.
“You are mortal. You can’t depend on speed to save you,” I coached.
When she lunged with a particularly aggressive thrust, I sidestepped, using her forward momentum to spin her towards me. The move was calculated, intended to disorient, but she was quick to recover, launching a high kick aimed directly at my chest. I caught her leg, the contact a spark in the charged air between us.
Our eyes locked in a heated gaze, her chest heaving in quick bursts.
“You’re going to need to be smarter. Monsters only answer to their base instincts. Gods are arrogant. They will underestimate you, which you can use to your advantage to exploit their weaknesses.”
Her response was not verbal but physical—a twist and a pull that should have sent her stumbling away from me. Instead, the momentum crashed her into me, pushing us both off balance.
My arms shot out and instinctively wrapped around her to prevent us both from falling. Our faces were inches apart, her breath warm against my skin, stirring something within me that had nothing to do with our combat.
For a long moment, we just stared at each other, the air thick with unspoken words and suppressed desires that shimmeredbefore us like heat waves. I could feel her heart beating against my chest, fast and hard.
Then, slowly, almost hesitantly, Miranda tilted her head up, her mouth parting slightly. My gaze dropped to her lips as she licked them slowly before whispering, “You said to exploit their weakness against them.” Her voice was soft, her breath tickling my face, pulling me deeper into the moment, into her.
Her words didn’t penetrate my brain as it went fuzzy from her closing the distance between us, my lips parting in anticipation of tasting her.
In a swift movement, Miranda slipped from my hold, her leg sweeping out under mine, sending me crashing to the ground. I blinked, finding myself on my back, the hard ground pressing against my shoulders and my breath jettisoned from my lungs with a tight, painful squeeze.
Miranda, quick to capitalize on her advantage, straddled me with a grace that belied the deadly intent of the blade she now held to my throat. The metal was a chilling touch against my skin.
“You mean like that?” she asked, tilting her head with haughty triumph.
Despite the blade at my neck, despite the precarious position I found myself in, I couldn’t help the surge of admiration that went through me. I grinned at her.
That’s my girl.
Pinned beneath her, I was acutely aware of every point of contact between us. The pressure of her thighs around my torso threatened my sanity.
The desire to close that distance was overwhelming. I saw the same longing mirrored in her eyes. I leaned up onto my elbows and surprisingly, she allowed me to brush the blade aside before reaching up to push her braids back behind the perfect shell of an ear I wanted to nibble on until she gasped and shivered.
Her breath was warm against my face, a tantalizing hint of closeness that drew me in, the world narrowing down to the space between us.
As I leaned up for a kiss that promised to shatter the walls between us, our moment teetered on the edge of becoming something more.
Just as our lips were about to meet, an exasperated, nasal voice shattered the moment.
“Oh no, not you two jerks again!”
The voice snapped us back to reality like an icy splash of water.
We were on our feet in seconds as Max and Alfonso emerged from the shadows of the alley, annoyance etched on their faces.
They didn’t know themeaningof annoyance. The urge to rip off their faces and throw them away like bits of trash overwhelmed me. My brain thundered with violent images as my emotions roiled with disappointment.
“What are you doing here?” Miranda snapped, her hand instinctively readjusting around her weapon.
Max, in his glittery magician costume that seemed even more out of place in the stark reality of the alley, rolled his eyes dramatically. “We were on the trail of our star act again, but it looks like we've stumbled upon a different kind of show,” he said, eyeing us with a mix of disdain and lewd suggestion.
Alfonso, fumbling with his toy wand, chimed in with evident frustration. “Yeah, and we probably would’ve caught him if it weren’t for you two always popping up and ruining everything! You are chasing off the star of our show.”
Miranda’s expression turned thunderous with irritation. “What did I tell you two idiots? You should not be tracking the massive murder cat.” She enunciated the words as if explaining to a couple of slow minded children.
“You should stop getting in our way,” Max shot back, before giving Alfonso a slight nod.
