“It’s more fun to believe, isn’t it?”
“It depends on your definition of magick,” Luch said. I waited for him to elaborate, but he didn’t.
“And what would your definition of magick be then?” Luch scrambled down a few boulders and then turned and held his hand out to me for assistance as I followed. I almost hesitated touching him, since the last two times had resulted in a visceral shock, but it would have seemed even more odd of me to refuse.
My hand clasped his.
Our palms warmed together, that crazy heat trailing up my arm and through my belly, and my heart fluttered in my chest.
He didn’t move back as he helped me down, and I almost bumped against his chest as I found solid ground again. Raising my eyes, I held his gaze. There was a question there. And a challenge.
Flecks of gold shone in those mossy-green eyes of his, and my thoughts scrambled as he loomed over me—all muscles and man and rugged confidence.
“This.”
“This what?” I’d completely forgottenabout my question but then his lips were on mine and any thoughts I had scattered for the hills and all I could do was feel.
Bloody hell, but this man could kiss.
I’m talking instant heat, everywhere in my body, curling up from my toes, all the way to the roots of my hair. His kiss was a possession, and ownership, as though he had the key to unlock every secret of my body and had no problem whatsoever using it. I went limp against him, and he dropped my hand, wrapping his arms around my waist, and pulled me more tightly against his muscular chest.
A chest I’d dreamt about every night since I’d seen him without his shirt.
Mewling into his mouth, I licked deep, my arms going around his neck to pull his head closer. He slowly tasted me, as though I was an exquisite dessert, his kiss both slow and plundering, and somehow, sweetly exploratory.
He’d push, opening my mouth wider, licking deeper, and then retreat to nibble softly at my lips while we both caught our breath. Then another kiss, this one soft, before sinking his teeth into my lower lip and causing me to gasp with excitement. It was a dance, a thorough seduction, and one he led masterfully. By the time we separated, little dots floated in front of my eyes, and I slapped a hand on his chest to steady myself.
“Holy hell. I need a moment.” I wasn’t lying. I was thrown completely off course by his kiss, unsteady but in the best way possible, and all I could think about was getting this man into my bed. Or to the ground. Or to whatever available surface would allow us to explore, in great detail, whatever the hell chemistry this was. A fine tremor rippledthrough my body.
“Would it be rude of me to say that I’m pleased to hear that?” Luch took my hand and turned it over, placing a kiss in the center of my palm, sending a tingle across my skin. Then he folded my fingers over my palm, as though he was giving me a kiss to keep for later, and tugged my wrist to continue to follow him.
Bloody hell, this man was going to do my head in. I’d known it from the moment I’d set eyes on him, hadn’t I?
“I’d say it’s a touch egotistical, but since you’ve proven your kisses are worthy of a big head, I’ll allow it.”
“She loves my kisses? A compliment?” Luch shot me a delighted grin over his shoulder as he continued down the path. “I’ll take it.”How is he able to simply walk on? My heart’s beating frantically and I want more…and yet he’s sightseeing?
“As I’ve only gotonekiss to go on, I can only offer feedback on one instance. Correlation does not imply causation.”
Luch whirled, grabbed my shoulders, and pulled me sharply against him before claiming my mouth once more. This time, he feasted, taking me straight into the heat, and I gasped for air as his kiss stole every thought from my mind. I became one big nerve ending, craving his touch everywhere, my body warm and liquid with need. When he broke away, a knowing grin danced across his lips as he took in my likely shell-shocked expression.
“There. More data for your study.”
“Who said I was conducting a study?” I asked. Though as studies went, it was a touch more interesting than the one I’d been reading on pain receptors and arthritis in aging dogs.
“You’re the one who brought up causation,” Luch pointed out.
“Well if I’m conducting a study, then I’ll need a larger sample size, won’t I?” I held up a hand when Luch turned back, his eyes almost feral as he reached for me again. “Nope, I didn’t mean a sample size of kisses. I meant perhaps I need more participants.”
“But that would change the scope of your study, wouldn’t it?”
“Not necessarily,” I argued, following him down a small gully and around a turn in the path.
“Surely it would. If you’re positing that all my kisses leave you breathless and needing to ‘take a moment’, then the only way to expand the sample size is to add more kisses. If you’re positing thatallkisses fromallmen leave you breathless and craving more, then, yes, you’d need a large sample from a variety of different participants.”
This is what I got for arguing with a fellow doctor.
Luckily, I was saved from answering when Luch stopped around the corner of the bend we’d just taken and held out his arm.
