Dragon or not, he wouldn’t survive without it.
So he said what needed saying. “I will help you, lass.”
Her eyebrows flew up. “You will?”
“I will.”
“Good to hear,” she said with relief and smiled. The kind of smile that not only made her all that much more beautiful but made her glow all over.
Drawn to it, needing her close, he pulled her onto his lap before she could deny him. Cupped her cheek and kissed her because it had been what he’d wanted to do since last he did it.
Only this time, they weren’t caught in the throes of slumber.
Rather, they were the furthest thing from it, and he made that perfectly clear.
Chapter Seventeen
TO THE BEST of her knowledge, Shannon had only ever kissed Liam on two occasions. The first in the armory. The second, last night when they were caught in the throes of whatever that had been.
Yet, for some reason, when he pulled her onto his lap and kissed her now, it felt like the very first time. Like she’d never been kissed by any man until now. Until his lips closed over hers, and it seemed every kiss she’d ever received washed away in the wake of what she felt.
Theyfelt.
Because she knew he experienced it too. Like nothing before this moment mattered. Nothing counted. She was so lost in their ever-deepening kiss she didn’t realize he had moved until he laid her down on a fur in front of the fire.
Outside of last night, it had been years since she’d done this, anddidlast night really count? It seemed like flashes of contact. Passionate flashes at that but nothing like what she felt now as their kisses intensified. Grew desperate.
Not enough.
Never enough.
She wanted more. Needed to feel his flesh. Run her fingers over every hard inch of him. Feel things that seemed almost dream-like the night before, yet she’d seen him this morning, so she knew he was real. Marveled at his body. So she tugged athis clothes, intent to touch, feel, but he tore his lips from hers, pinned her wrists beside her head, and met her eyes before she could.
“You took control last night.” His voice thickened with arousal. “Tonight ‘tis my turn.”
He traced her lips, then trailed his finger over her chin and down her neck, following his finger with such adoration there was no questioning this was new to him. “I want to...take my time.”
He looked at her in a way no man had ever looked at her before. In a way she knew he’d never looked at another woman.
“I want to do things differently,” he murmured as he slid her dress down over her shoulders. Took in the contours of her collarbone and the dip of her cleavage as though he’d never seen anything so tempting. So beautiful.
