Page 88 of Tamed By Her Touch

“Excuse me, what?” she asked, turning to their hostess.

“Kiss your husband,” Maera repeated as though it were the most ordinary request in the world. “A goddess always gives her husband affection after adorning him. It shows that his appearance pleases her.”

“Oh, right.” Clair swallowed. “Of course.

She looked at Kaelus and he looked back at her. Suddenly the situation didn’t seem amusing anymore.

They had touched. They had held each other. They had watched each other do considerably more intimate things than kissing the night before. But somehow, they still had never actually kissed.

And after what Kaelus had said last night about needing distance between them, Clair wasn’t certain he wanted to start now.

“Well…” she began.

Maera frowned.

“Is there a problem? Surely you show your husband affection—it would be cruel to withhold it when he has devoted his life to serving you!”

Kaelus’s eyes flicked toward her and Clair wondered what he was thinking. Then his expression changed and his arm slipped around her waist.

“Come here, Lissa’ra,” he rumbled. “I need a kiss as a reward for my devotion to you.”

And Clair barely had time to inhale before he pulled her against him and lowered his mouth toward hers.

14

KAELUS

Kaelus had known kissing Clair would be a mistake even before he lowered his mouth to hers. Unfortunately, knowing it was a mistake didn’t make him want it any less.

All night long he had dreamed of her—of her soft, lush body displayed for him, of the sight of her full breasts cupped in her own hands, of the pleasure on her face when she came for him.

Worst of all, he could still remember her taste. That tiny sample of her honey he had sucked from her fingers had haunted him through what little sleep he had managed to get, making him imagine things he had no business imagining and want things he could never have.

He had struggled with himself all night—wanting to roll over and pull her into his arms. At last, by morning he had convinced himself that distance was the only sensible course.

He would be polite, professional, and protective—because he seemed incapable of being anything else where Clair was concerned—but he would not allow himself any further intimacy with her. This he had vowed to himself.

Then Maera ordered his “goddess” to kiss him, and Clair had looked up at him with those wide brown eyes, and every reasonable thought in his head vanished.

“Come here, Lissa’ra,” he growled, slipping an arm around her waist.

He intended the kiss to be brief—a simple brush of lips that would satisfy Maera and allow them to continue their charade. But the moment Clair’s soft mouth met his, something inside him broke loose. Her lips parted beneath his almost immediately and Kaelus groaned as he pulled her closer, gathering her against his chest as though she truly belonged there.

Clair melted into him with a soft little sound of pleasure, her arms coming around his neck as she kissed him back eagerly, and the realization that she wanted this too nearly destroyed what little restraint he had left. Gods, she tasted good! Sweet and warm and feminine, exactly as he had imagined, though there was still the faintest hint of mint from whatever she had used to clean her teeth that morning. He deepened the kiss without meaning to, angling his head and tasting her more fully, and Clair rose onto her toes as though trying to get even closer.

For one blinding moment, Kaelus forgot everything except the woman in his arms. He forgot they were pretending to be mated. He forgot she had sworn never to let another male into her life. He forgot that he was a Hybrid who could never Bond her to him and had no right to begin something he couldn’t finish.

All he knew was that Clair was soft and warm against him, her fingers were sliding into his still-damp hair, and she was kissing him with an enthusiasm that made his entire body respond. His cock began to harden beneath his trousers, and a fierce possessiveness rose inside him that frightened him with its intensity.

Mine.

The thought came so suddenly and so powerfully that Kaelus jerked away.

Clair swayed toward him for a second, clearly not expecting the kiss to end so abruptly. Her cheeks were flushed and her lips were slightly swollen, while her brown eyes looked dazed and unfocused in a way that made Kaelus desperately want to kiss her again. He released her waist.

“There,” he said hoarsely. “The required kiss has been given.”

Clair blinked.