“My blouse is going to be ruined if I don’t—” I was already reaching for the buttons, fingers slightly clumsyfrom the cold and the beer and the giddiness of standing in Kardok’s apartment at midnight making decisions I’d been wanting to make since the first time he’d turned to the camera and done that thing with his tongue.
The silk was soaked through, plastered to my skin, and I got the last button and peeled it off my shoulders with a sound that was mostly wet fabric and partly resignation. I held it up, dripping.
“I liked this blouse,” I said mournfully. If I could get it hung up quickly, I thought it could probably be saved…
“I like what’s under it better.”
I looked up.
Kardok had gone very still. All of his coiled attention was directed entirely at the very wet, very transparent bra that was now doing essentially nothing exceptexistingbetween us. His eyes had gone dark and intent andhungryin a way that hit me somewhere low and immediate.
Oh.
Oh, I’d seen that look before—in photographs, in game footage, in the way he looked when he was about to do something decisive and inevitable. But I’d never had it directed at me from four feet away in a dark apartment, and it was considerably more effective in person.
I felt powerful.
Absurdly, giddily powerful.
So I did what any sensible woman would do, which was to square my shoulders, reach into the cups of that transparent bra, and very deliberately arrange myself to my best advantage.
His jaw tightened.
“See something you like?” I asked. My voice came out lower than I’d intended, which I decided to consider a success, considering I was very close to losing my nerve.
“Lila.” My name on his lips, a warning and a question and a prayer all at once.
“Kardok,” I whispered, in exactly the same tone.
He crossed the distance between us in two steps—not grabbing, not rushing, just suddenlythere, close enough that I could feel the heat radiating off him despite the rain, and his hand came up to touch my jaw, tilting my face toward his with a gentleness that was somehow more devastating than urgency would have been.
His eyes searched mine.
“Do you trust me, Princess?” he asked quietly.
The reminder pulled the last of my hesitation from me as my breathwhooshedout of my lungs.
The approach. The axe. Thecommit. The throwing myself forward and trusting that someone would be there.
He’ll be there.
He promised.
I looked up at him—this wild,wickedorc who had caught me every single time without fail—and felt the last of the hesitation dissolve into something that felt a lot like certainty.
“Yes,” I said. “Catch me.”
Kardok’s kiss was a force of nature, deep and overpowering, a hungry claim that demanded surrender. I was ready to give it. His lips were firm and insistent, his tongue ridged and hot as it swept into my mouth, taking possession.
I could taste the rain and the faint hint of beer, but mostly, I could taste him: wild and untamed, like the promise of a storm.
His hands were everywhere—cradling my face, stroking my neck, sliding down my shoulders. Each touch sent shivers of pleasure coursing through me, lighting up every nerve ending. I was dripping wet, both from the rain and from the desire that was pooling between my thighs.
He broke the kiss only to trail his lips down my jaw, his tusks grazing my skin in a way that sent a thrill of excitement through me. “You taste so fucking good, Princess,” he growled, his voice a low rumble that vibrated against my throat. “Like rain and—and dessert. I could devour you.”
I whimpered, my head tipping back to give him better access. His words were as intoxicating as his touch, sending waves of heat through my body. I felt his fingers at the waistband of my jeans, slowly unzipping them, the sound of the metal teeth parting echoing in the quiet room. The denim fell to the floor with a wet plop, leaving me in just my soaked bra and panties.
Kardok pulled back slightly, his dark eyes roaming over my body with an intensity that made me shiver. “Gods below, you’re beautiful,” he murmured, his voice rough with appreciation as he pulled his wet shirt off and dropped it beside mine. “Every inch ofyou is perfect.”
