“No.” The word was out before she could still her tongue.
No, she didn’t want him to stop. But she was torn—torn between the red-hot desire to invite him to test his magic on her to its limits and the knowledge that it would complicate this whole mess even further.
The most wicked smile she’d ever seen on a man’s face ghosted across Darien’s lips. “I didn’t think so.”
Loren didn’t say anything, her breathing becoming rapid with his building magic. The need for release was so intense, her vision shimmered. But—
Knowing that what they were doing was wrong on so many levels, she crossed her legs, the muscles twitching slightly with the promise of ecstasy, and squeezed her thighs together. Harder than she had before.
Sensing her resolution—her silent answer to the question he’d asked her—Darien’s eyes immediately became blue again, his magic fading away like fog in sunlight. But although he was no longer reading her aura, she knew he had seen enough, and couldstillsee enough to know what she was thinking—the filthy show she was playing in her mind.
The show in which he was the main star.
“I had no idea you were such a dirty girl, Loren Calla.” His teasing voice was practically a purr.
Scarlet Star help her.“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she stammered.
It was a lie. A big, fat lie, because that throbbing wouldn’t stop, and her nipples were hard peaks against her shirt.
And…she wanted him to do it again, wanted him to stroke her with his magic and not stop this time until she climaxed.
“I think you know exactly what I’m talking about.”
“You’re being very inappropriate,” she spluttered.
“So are your thoughts, apparently.” A sinful smile colored his tone. And she could barely look at him, couldn’t separate her legs.
Couldn’t stop her tongue from stumbling as she said, “I’m sorry to squash your inflated ego, but I have zero desire to make love to you.”
The corners of his mouth—that damned, distracting mouth—twitched with amusement, the dimple in his cheek making an appearance.
Loren blinked, her spine stiffening. “What’s so funny?”
“Your word choice…amuses me.”
“Well, if you wouldn’t call it making love, then whatwouldyou call it?” she huffed.
“Fucking.” The hint of a smile that was flirting with his lips had turned positively wicked. “I would call it fucking, Miss Loren.”
She wasn’t sure how it was possible, but she blushed even harder. The heat spread right down to her toes, as if she had been sitting out in the sun for too long.
Why did she have to be so naive?Why?
He was full-on grinning now. “You walked right into that one, sweetheart.”
Loren cleared her throat and set about fiddling with her shorts string. “Can we talk about something else, please?”
“Like how you’re such a little prude that you flinch every time I sayfucking?”Indeed, shedidflinch. Though she wasn’t sure that being inexperienced was the same as being a prude—but she didn’t want him knowing about that part of her.
When she dared to look at him again, his eyes were dark—not with the Sight, but with something else. Something that made her melt all over again as that piercing gaze swept over her mouth and her breasts, lingering on the latter in a way that suggested he was undressing her in his mind.
What she wouldn’t give to know exactly what he was thinking.
“You’re not being nice,” she huffed, that heavy stare of his too much for her to bear. If he kept looking at her like that, she just might throw herself across the table and end up… What was the word he’d used again?
Oh yeah:fucking. She might end up fucking him.
“Because I’m not a nice person,” he said, his voice rich and silky. He seemed to note her fidgeting and, evidently not being certain of the reason why she was doing it, he said, his voice incredibly gentle, “Relax, Loren. I’m only teasing you. I promise I won’t bite—unless, of course, you want me to.”
