“You have very few.”
“I only need one.” And only one thing came to mind.
His eyes flashed with intrigue. “And what might that be?”
“Something,” Violet gritted out, “spectacularly foolish.”
That earned her an actual smile. “And what exactly would that be?”
“Punishyou.”
She had just enough time to glimpse the flash of surprise on his face before she reached for his lapels and yanked him down, thanking God for his shock, and in the same breath she rose onto her toes and kissed him.
*
The fiery flamekissed him.
For one blistering heartbeat, Drake forgot how to draw a breath. Her mouth, impossibly soft and shockingly bold, pressed to his with none of the hesitation that had plagued her every other moment with him. She simply kissed him, as though he were hers to kiss.
And God help him, he let her.
Her lips tasted like tea and something sweet, honey, perhaps, and for a heated moment, he could not recall why this was meant to be a punishment.
Torment perhaps.
Torment of the most exquisite sort.
His hands found her waist before he could think rationally of it, fingers curving into the shape of her. She was blazing. She was fire. She was every wrong thing wrapped up in one maddeningly right mouth.
Perhaps this was the punishment.
The taste.
Hertaste.
The sort of taste a man didn’t know he wanted before tasting it.
This is punishment,his mind insisted.
Yes,something darker answered,so punish back.
He had considered kissing her, but only for a second before the wiser, predominant part had known he’d never cross that line. Now that the line was crossed... She gave a start against him when he tightened his hold, and the sound went straight into his bloodstream, lighting every inch of him with hunger. He’d been touched before, kissed before, wanted before, but nothing had ever thundered through him like this slip of a red-haired menace pressed to his chest.
Punishment, was it? He could meet that challenge blindfolded.
Drake took her mouth with a command that instantly melted into something far more perilous. His tongue swept against hers, urgent but sure, tasting everything she had to offer. His hips pushed against her, and he had to stop himself from full on grinding his throbbing hardness against her, seeking a measure of relief.
Ah, perhaps this was punishment.But for whom?
She gasped softly, and the sound only drove him harder into the kiss.
Her fingers curled into his lapels and held him fast. Foolish girl. He wasn’t going anywhere. Not while she kissed him like this—like she was starving, or furious, or something his brain hadn’t yet considered.
He knew the sensation.
He felt every damned one of those things too.
To hell with it.
