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Her gray gaze widened with sudden understanding. “It wasyouI felt outside my house the other night, wasn’t it?”
Appears hehadlet too much of his aura out. “You felt that? I wondered if you did.”
She said nothing. Neither did he. At least, not with words. His gaze told her how frustrating and unforgettable she was, especially while the breeze played with the tendrils of hair that had come loose from its elegant updo. Her bolero jacket did little to hide the long, tempting line of her throat, and each accelerated breath swelled her breasts against her snug lace bodice like the rise and fall of stormy seas.
She swallowed hard, looking away when her gaze began filling with the same need that made him barely able to restrain himself. Then, she took another swallow of gin.
“We have to get back to the reception,” she said in a newly unsteady tone.
Yes, they did. Before he decided that talking was very, very overrated. But first…
“Mind if I have a drop from your bottle?”
Her brow furrowed since she knew his chosen spirit was whisky, not gin. Still, she handed it to him.
Bones slid his tongue over the red streaks marring the glass instead of drinking its contents. His nerve endings erupted at the taste of her blood-so sharply sweet and addictive, just like she was. He’d only drank from her once before, and the memory filled him with the same fire he saw in her gaze as she watched, her breath coming faster while her scent ripened until it nearly begged him to taste her lips next.
Oh, I will, Kitten. But not now.
He handed the bottle back once he’d licked away every drop of her blood from it. Her fingers trembled as she took it.
“Still going to pretend there’s nothing between us?” Bones asked in a heated whisper.
A helpless sort of desperation lit her gaze before angry denial covered it. “There isn’t. Go hit on Felicity instead. Good news: I hear she’s easy.”
With that, she tried to sweep by him. Bones caught her hand and held it, ignoring her angry tugs to get away.
“Stop that,” he said while pulling out his knife.
Her brows shot up.
He bit back a derisive snort.No, I’m not going to stab you for your cruel directive. I’ll repay that another way.
He scored his palm with the blade and pressed her open cut to his welling wound. Her failure to instantly heal was another of her human traits. When she tugged away again, he let her go.
She watched as his blood healed her cut until only the red smear on her palm remained to show that it had ever been there. Then, she looked at him and didn’t look away.
He stared back, still feeling the heat from her skin while tasting her blood on his tongue. Both made him want to kiss her until she admitted what her scent, eyes, and pulse all screamed at him, but he didn’t. First, she had to admit to herself that she still wanted him, and he knew how to make her.
Brace yourself, Kitten. I’m calling your bluff.
“Weren’t you leaving?” he asked with an arched brow.
After a final, confused look, she did.
Bones waited a few minutes before returning to the ballroom. Then, he ignored Cat and focused on Felicity.
“Good news, luv,” he said with his most charming smile. “I do dance as well as I look.”
12
The reception lasted three hours. Bones focused on Felicity the entire time…except for one brief exchange about halfway through. When Cat was occupied with Denise and her mum, Bones passed by Noah and whispered “Rumpelstiltskin” near his ear.
The single word activated a previously-planted subconscious directive. Ten minutes later, Noah was apologizing to Cat, Denise, and Randy while hurrying out the door. Noah, an on-call veterinarian, believed there was an animal emergency at his clinic. He’d stay there the rest of the night believing it, too.
Without Noah to distract her, Cat barely managed to conceal how she stared at Bones while he drank, danced, and laughed with Felicity. As the night wore on, Cat’s scent became so singed with anger that she could have set off the smoke alarms, but she still did nothing to interfere. Randy and Denise had just left when Felicity took Bones’s hand with a sultry smile.
“Come here, gorgeous. I have something to show you.”
