“Marius?” Bene called from downstairs.
We both froze as if caught in a secret act — which this was absolutely, positively not. Then Marius hustled me up another few steps, safely out of sight. I complied, feeling like an accomplice to a crime I didn’t commit. A willing accomplice, because something shifted in me as we went.
I stopped, as did Marius — a scant step below me, putting him awfully close.
Nice and close,something inside me purred.
He glanced down, and we both held our breaths, avoiding detection.
Which made no sense. What was I hiding, and who was I hiding it from?
Myself, I quickly realized. I was trying to hide that I liked — no, loved — having Marius close. That my heart revved and butterflies fluttered through my soul.
“Seriously,” I whispered, desperate to know. “What’s it to you?”
His glowing eyes said,You are everything to me.
I shook my head, confused. “You don’t even like me. You hate me.”
Didn’t he?
He stared. “I don’t hate you, Mina.”
“You do. You avoid me. You barely notice me. Every time I speak, you look away.”
His lips parted, but he didn’t utter a word.
I rushed to fill the awkward silence. “Look. I’m a grown woman. If I want to get involved with someone, I’ll get involved. My decision.”
“Involved?” he growled.
I nodded crisply. “Involved. My choice. Who I want. Who I touch. Who I kiss…”
And oops. My voice had slipped from indignant to sultry in the space of a few words. Where had that come from?
You have a lot more of your ancestors in you than you think, my dear,my grandmother used to say.
I gulped. Like the hot-blooded, lusting animal part?
“Kiss? That asshole?” Marius growled.
“You prefer that I kiss you?”
And, double oops. Where the hell had that come from?
From instincts I didn’t know I had and that I’d somehow unleashed, apparently, because I found myself inching closer to him.
“I could kiss you, you know. I’m capable of deciding that too.”
“I bet you are,” he murmured.
Was he mocking me? Daring me? I couldn’t tell. But his lips were temptingly close.
I didn’t actually say,You doubt me? Well, how about this?But I might as well have, because a second later, my lips landed on his.
A little gasp rose in my throat, but it faded into a sigh, and I lost myself in that kiss.Literallylost myself, like I’d stumbled through a mirror or a magical wardrobe into a whole new world. A world ruled by touch, where sight, sound, and smell all stood by on mute.
His lips were pillow-soft and perfectly shaped. So perfectly, our lips rocked together with no effort at all. They rocked so well that I began to explore up…down…left…right… A good thing for the stubble around his mouth, which acted as a guardrail. Every time I grazed it, I bounced back to the centerline of the kiss.
