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“Fair point. Why did you run?”
“Because I got scared. You’re a tiger.”
“I’m aware.”
“No, I mean that you could easily kill me.”
He snarled very loudly, and the sound made whatever part of her that was lighting up around him feel white-hot. It was like there was a lightbulb in the center of her body that turned on whenever he made tiger noises and made her feel connected to him.
“I would never harm you.” He sniffed. “You still haven’t told me your name.”
“Ashley Talbot.”
“I’m Romeo Dawson.” He hummed. “I’m sorry that you were scared, but you know you weren’t really panicking until after you asked me to let you go. And I’ll point out that you weren’t telling me the truth of why you were there, spying on us.”
Ah, shit. Could he really tell she was lying? Well, she’d just have to double down on it. What was the saying? That if you told a lie enough, you might believe it yourself? Or maybe that was just her fevered mind trying to make peace with her decision to lie to this guy who turned her on beyond belief and made her think of home and family for the first time ever.
Romeo. He had the freaking sexiest name on the planet.
Closing her eyes, she said, “I was scared out of my mind at being caught. Iama journalist. I submit articles for a website calledAll About Shifters, which is a resource for humans. You can look it up, I’m telling the truth.”
What was theactualtruth was, however, was that it was a dummy website, with her name on several articles in order to give the appearance of truth. Brent had made it up at her insistence that she have a realistic cover story in the event she was caught.
“I was trespassing, and I’d covered my scent with a chemical that my boss suggested I use so that no one would find me. I just wanted to watch and see what happened around your king’s house. I didn’t actually expect there to be a ceremony.”
He stared at her, and she could tell he was thinking over what she’d shared. She wanted to protest more, to beg him to believe her, but she knew it was better to just let her words stand on their own and not make things more complicated by adding to them.
“Ashley Talbot.” He pulled his phone from his back pocket and pushed his thumb around. A few moments later, which felt like an eternity times two, he put the phone back in his pocket. “Let’s go.”
He didn’t grab her arm as he had the night before, but instead offered his hand.
“Go where?”
“To talk. My home isn’t far from here. I think we have a lot to discuss, don’t you?”
She stared up at him. He moved closer, invading her space.
How long had it been since she’d been genuinely attracted to a man? She couldn’t even remember, and she was very sure that whatever she’d felt in the past was just a shadow of what she felt now. Her stomach flipped and her body heated, her skin tingling and her thoughts turning again to sexy things.
A small part of her knew all of this was wrong. She shouldn’t be trying to sex him up since she was planning to help Brent take out his people, but she honestly couldn’t help herself. She felt addicted to him, and she hadn’t even spent much time in his presence.
Fighting it seemed futile.
So she kissed him.
She went onto her toes and pressed her lips to his. He let out a surprised sound and then wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. Their bodies mashed together, her soft curves to his hard muscles, and she decided this was worth whatever anxiety had been plaguing her.
He swiped his tongue along her lips, and she opened her mouth, sinking against him as their tongues touched and tasted. She curled her hands into his shirt, her nails digging into her palms through the material.
He snarled softly and lifted from her lips.
“You smell good,” she whispered.
He smirked. “So do you, sweet thing.”
He brushed his thumb along the bottom of her lip and then caught her hand with his. “Let’s go. We have a lot to discuss.”
* * *
