“But Monty said…” Suspicion darkens my thoughts. I recall wondering if he knew about the free pass after all. “Monty tricked me.”
“Did he now?”
My posture slackens, my eyes going unfocused. “Whose side is he on?”
“Yours, obviously. He wanted you to sabotage me and maintain your lead. Zane, on the other hand, is on my side. They proposed I stir your jealousy. Though…that might have been Monty’s idea. They were whispering together for some time. Come to think of it, Monty might be on my side too…”
His grin turns smug. He’s clearly enjoying this.
I level a glare at him. “You tricked me. Youalltricked me. I redeemed my free pass for nothing.”
His gaze grows heavy, flitting from my eyes to my lips and back again. “Oh, I wouldn’t say this is nothing, Weenie.”
I push off his chest and he releases me. “Now that you’ve all had fun at my expense, I’ll be on my way.” I step back and plantmy hands on my hips, waiting for him to move away from the threshold.
He doesn’t.
Still leaning against the closed door, he folds his arms and crosses one ankle over the other. “You said the words. You redeemed your pass, and it is now in my possession. Yet you haven’t claimed your act of physical intimacy, which means you’ve yet to accumulate a point.”
My mouth falls open, and I gesture at his body. “You hugged me.”
“That wasn’t much of a hug.” Finally, he steps away from the door. “If you really want to waste your free pass, by all means, leave without claiming your point.”
I glance from him to the door. I could stride past him and leave my humiliation behind. But my pride is greater, and he knows it. I can’t leave without taking advantage of the lead I so badly want.
And there’s still another flicker of want inside me, the same excitement that drove me to his room tonight. He may have succeeded in tricking me, but I still desire more of him, for reasons I’ve yet to fully acknowledge.
“Fine,” I say, doing my best to keep my voice steady. “Let’s…perform an act of physical intimacy.”
The triumph returns to his expression. “What act shall it be? You redeemed the pass. You get to choose.”
“Did we establish that rule?”
“I just did.”
He’s really going to make me say it. I bite the inside of my cheek as I gather the courage to speak. “A kiss, then.”
He steps closer, his voice dipping low. “Take the lead. Show me what you like. Show me where you want me to kiss you.”
I nearly sway on my feet at the last part, conjuring thoughts of the less obvious places I could get him to kiss. He’s alreadypressed his mouth to my knuckles, my neck, and now my lips. Only now do I picture that mouth trailing over my stomach, my breasts, then between my legs.
Heat burns at my core, screaming,Yes, that. But I can’t request that. I’m not brave enough. Not yet. More than anything, I want to start with a true kiss. I want to experience an encore of what we began in the bookstore.
I hold his gaze, trembling as I step closer to him. He’s so much taller than me that even if I stood on my tiptoes, I couldn’t reach his mouth without his aid. He seems to realize this at the same time, closing the remaining space between us and bracketing my waist in his hands. Then he leans down, angling his head until our faces are only inches apart. He freezes then, like he did during our performance when he was waiting for me to catch up with the scene. Damn him. He’s really going to make me make the first move.
My heart pounds faster. Harder. My head swims. I lift onto my toes and press my lips against his. My courage leaves no sooner than our lips meet, along with the strength in my legs. I pull away and take a step out of his grasp, my head light, my breaths short. What the hell is this? Am I fucking swooning? Is swooning a real thing?
“All right, well…” I wring my hands, wincing at the quaver in my voice. “There it is. That was the kiss. I have my point, so?—”
“No.” William’s stern tone has my mouth snapping shut. “That wasn’t a real kiss.”
“Uh, I think it was,” I mutter, looking anywhere but at him.
“I thought this was what you wanted,” he says. “Don’t you want to know what it feels like to be kissed by a fae?Reallykissed by a fae?”
A fae…right. My research. In this moment, I couldn’t care less about that. I want to know what it feels like to be kissed byhim. And maybe that’s the problem. Initiating the kiss myselfmade my head spin, while being kissed by him only filled me with desire.
I take a few deep breaths, gathering my resolve. “Show me a real kiss then.”
