Just the sight of her gartered stocking in my periphery is enough to make me miss my next shot.
Meanwhile, she props her elbow on her now-exposed knee, supports the butt of the rifle on her other shoulder, and blasts six small bubbles in a row. Her vine is now equally as tall as mine.
I swallow hard and force my eyes fully on my panel of targets. I successfully pop my next bubble. “That’s quite improper, Daph.”
“Oh, come on,” she says, striking her next two targets. “You’ve seen my legs before.”
“That may be true,” I say, keeping my breaths steady as I pop just enough bubbles to keep her vine from outgrowing mine. Only a foot remains until one of us will reach the top. Half my mind remains tangled in what she said. How I’ve seen her legs before. She’s referring to the sexy yellow dress she wore to the gala during The Heartbeats Tour. The one embroidered with pink flowers and a scandalously short hem. That was the first time I saw her in seelie form and nearly died of shock when I first laid eyes on her stockinged legs. “But that was at a gala where half the crowd was dressed as boldly. This is a public carnival in the middle of the day. People are looking.”
“I don’t think they are,” she says, popping three more targets while I manage to hit only one. “I think you’re the only one looking. Are you really so flustered, Monty? Even after I almost showed you my breasts?”
My next shot misses spectacularly, thanks to the hitch in my chest. She lets out an unrestrained cackle. I cut a glare at her. “Daph! We’re in fucking public. You can’t talk about that.”
“Worried about my reputation?” She gives me a mock pout. “Worry about your own after you lose to me.”
I can do nothing but stare as she shifts her gaze back to her target, a wicked grin on her lips that’s so wide, it shows the dainty points of her canines. I’ve never noticed them before. Then my eyes sweep over the length of her white stockings, the hiked-up hem of her pink day dress, the soft golden flesh on display around her garter. Her shooting posture is far from ladylike, as is the unrestrained squeal she utters as she hits her next target. It’s the strangest combination of feminine and feral I’ve ever seen.
Blazing hell…Daphne is goddamn gorgeous.
My breath hitches yet again, and my pulse rackets. Daphne is so close to winning, and I’m almost of a mind to forfeit. Almost. Yet I’ve never backed down from a challenge. Never forfeited a game unless I was losing on purpose.
And now that Daphne has flustered me so, I’m determined to get revenge.
I take a calming breath and face my target. Lift my rifle. Aim.
“Hey, Daph,” I say as I pop one of the bubbles.
“What?”
“Remember at the club last weekend when you sucked candy floss off my fingertips.”
She yelps, and it isn’t a sound of triumph. At the same time, her rifle fires without popping any bubbles. She bares her teeth at me, cheeks flushed pink.
It’s my turn to grin wickedly. “It got me thinking.”
“About what?” she says, voice tight as she carefully aims her next shot and misses.
“About that skilled tongue of yours.”
She pauses, her only movement the heavy rise and fall of her chest.
I pop six more targets, then glance briefly at her with a wink. “And how it might feel on my cock.”
Her mouth falls open, cheeks burning crimson.
I pop four more bubbles, and a celebratory mechanical melody erupts over my station, announcing me and my towering vine as the winner.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
DAPHNE
Idon’t know how I manage to snap out of my stupor in the wake of Monty’s words, but as soon as I do, I take aim with a vengeance and pop enough bubbles to secure second place amongst the rest of the contestants. Not that I was in much danger of losing to anyone else. The rest of the players are still struggling to grow their vines past shoulder height.
But the private game between me and Monty…
I march up to him, my cheeks burning hotter than ever. He stands just outside the stall, and when he catches my furious glare, he smirks. “Ah, sweet victory. How does it feel to lose?”
Now I regret facing him because I can hardly look him in the eye as his taunting words echo through my mind all over again. My stomach flips with a strange medley of sensations. Embarrassment. Amusement. And…was there a part of me that maybelikedhis vulgar teasing? Why are my lips curling into a grin?
