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“If you kiss me, I will bite you,” Calista promised him.
“Another empty threat, I think.” And suddenly, it occurred to Orion that he was enjoying himself. He hardly knew where to put that, so unexpected was it. “But never fear, my surprisingly bashful betrothed. It cannot be a real kiss. That would be inappropriate.”
She wrinkled up her nose. “What a relief.”
And Orion never surrendered to his demons. He never let feelings control him. Urges were anathema to him and strong emotion was his enemy.
Still, what moved in him then proved too strong to deny.
He reached over and took hold of her, sliding his hand along the curve of her cheek and then guiding her face to his.
“What— What are you—”
She sounded breathless. But she didn’t pull away.
“This is a real kiss, Calista,” he heard himself say.
And then he demonstrated.
CHAPTER FOUR
THEKINGWASkissing her.
And, worse, he was kissing herwell.
Everything inside Calista went haywire. Alarms kicked off other alarms, each shrieking so loud it should have deafened her completely, but he kept going.
And despite herself, she felt herself...softening.
His lips coaxed hers. His mouth, so stern from a distance, was firm against hers, and it made her stomach dance.
Butterflies, something in her whispered.
She pulled back slightly, perhaps to consider the horror of that thought—
But that was when he angled his head and took the kiss deeper.
And everything inside Calista burst into flame.
It went on and on. She burned, and she kissed him back, moving closer to him as if that would make the fire in her better. Or hotter. She couldn’t tell which.
There was a song in her, louder and louder, and it took her a moment to realize when he pulled away. And worse, that her hands were clenched on the fine fabric of his jacket.
For one breath, two, she could only cling to him. And stare back at him, astonished.
But then reality reasserted itself and she hitched in a breath.
“We won’t be doing that again,” she said, hoping she sounded more outraged and faintly disgusted than what she was. Knocked off balance. At sea, even.
But the way Orion very nearly smiled at her suggested otherwise. He looked far too male. Too smug. She told herself that was redundant and he was a king who was the worst of men anyway, and tried her best to make herself furious—
All while terribly afraid that she was trembling with all that leftover sensation. Visibly.
“If you say so,” he murmured. In a dark, rich tone that should not have had anything to do with the sensation of sparks cascading down her spine. She managed not to shudder. Somehow.
And it took the concentrated force of all her willpower, far more than it should have, but she managed to keep from pressing her fingers to her lips. Because it suddenly seemed to her like an act of sheer survival to prevent him from knowing how much he’d affected her.
No matter how much of a lost cause that might have been. It was one thing for him to suspect. But if he knew...
