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“Oh. It’s nice.”
Wordlessly, he slid the flower to her hand, closing each finger until it was crushed. Energy swirled until the crushed particles turned to glitter, but his fingers remained near her skin—just on the verge of touching, but not touching.
“That’s not to say I don’t like other colors. Red’s still nice.” His voice dropped an octave, hushed and intimate. “It would look nice against your bare skin. Surrounding you while I’m touching you and thrusting inside you.”
The nice, sizzling heat switched to a firestorm that churned her inside out. A molten gleam entered his gaze as he leaned in slightly.
“There’s the force of nature,” he mused.
She turned her head to glare but found his mouth inches from hers. “You little sneak. You do know how to flirt.”
“I didn’t realize that was flirting.”
“Yes, you did. You knew how to play me.”
“Pearl, if I played with you, we wouldn’t be here. We would be in closed quarters, so I can play hard and you can scream all you want.”
Oh, my heavens. She licked her lips, her mouth turning even drier. Arousal raged, but her speechlessness made it hard to think.
“Henry?”
“Yes?”
Let’s go home.
“Henry!”
Panic flared, but years of not letting other people see her many weaknesses had her straightening without being too suspicious. The relief nearly gutted her when she spotted Ryan strolling toward them and no other Lyra in sight. Upon noticing her, the younger man waved and remained unperturbed.
“Ryan,” Henry greeted, subtly backing away from her too. “Don’t tell me there’s another emergency meeting.”
“All right. I won’t tell you.” Ryan turned to her, his eyes twinkling. “Pearl, my cousin has an emergency meeting. Since he doesn’t want me to tell him, could you kindly pass on the message?”
She bit back a chuckle at Henry’s frown, already imagining Ryan teasing him this often and him taking it in stride. It was appealing, even if it did put a halt to whatever spell Henry was already weaving on her.
“I will let him know,” she said.
“What are you guys doing here, anyway? Brainstorming about the task?”
Oh, if only he knew.
“Sure,” she granted, then clinked her glass to Henry’s and pushed off the stool. She winked at Ryan. “But it can wait. Good luck with your meetings.”
Pearl sashayed away, knowing two pairs of eyes were on her.
That night, she declined Ruby’s invitation for a night out and spent time alone in her cottage, throwing herself into more potion-making before her muscles finally begged for a break. She took it in the shower, the hot water doing wonders to those muscles but not quite able to wash away the tingly feelings that Henry left behind when he left for his meeting. That was hours ago, and shedidtry to use her hand on herself, but it felt hollow and she couldn’t seem to get anywhere. Pearl cursed the air, wondering if the man had ruined her for good, and prepared to blame him for it.
When she got out of the shower, she answered her ringing communication device without looking at the caller ID. The voice on the other line caught her off guard, so she hastily got dressed and took the device to the living room. His face magically floated on the coffee table.
“Were you just getting dressed?” he asked, gaze wandering over what the device showed on his end.
“Yeah. All alone,” she teased, then laughed when he didn’t respond. But the continuous silence and the storm gathering in his features had the laughter dying. She sat on the couch. “Henry?”
More silence.
“What happened to your meeting?” she prompted. “Did they ask for updates about the task again?”
“I’m horny.”
