She couldn’t lie, not with his touch igniting sparks along her skin.
“We agreed on honesty,” he reminded her, hand sliding to cup her jaw as his thumb stroked her lower lip. “No secrets.”
Deena closed her eyes against the intensity of his gaze. “Yes,” she admitted finally, voice barely audible. “I’ve wondered. I alwayswanted… one real first kiss. The kind that consumes you. But since I won’t marry…” She opened her eyes, meeting his. “I thought I never would.”
Austin’s expression shifted. Hunger and tenderness warred in his eyes. “I can’t allow that.”
Her heart slammed. “What do you mean?”
“I can’t let you go through life without knowing.” His other hand settled at her waist, fingers splaying possessively. “Would you like one taste? Just to know.”
Deena’s breath caught. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Wouldn’t I?” His thumb pressed gently against her lip, parting it slightly. “If you’re only getting one kiss, shouldn’t it be unforgettable?”
“You’re a rake,” she breathed, but she didn’t step back. She couldn’t.
“Guilty.” His head lowered slowly. “Are you afraid you’ll fall in love with me after one kiss?”
She scoffed, gathering all her bravado. “With you? That’s absurd.”
Before doubt could stop her, she rose on her toes and pressed a quick peck to the corner of his mouth, and she dropped back heavily on her heels, causing herself to wobble. Austin held her still and tightly against him.
“There,” she said quickly. “It’s done, and I’m not in love. It was nothing spectacular.”
Austin seemed stunned for a heartbeat until his eyes darkened seriously.
“That wasn’t a kiss.”
Deena’s voice came out breathier than she intended, trembling with the challenge she couldn’t quite hide. “Then what is a kiss?”
Austin’s eyes darkened to molten hazel and fixed on her mouth with undisguised hunger. He lifted both hands slowly, cupping her face as though she was something fragile and infinitely precious. His thumbs stroked along her cheekbones, then lower, tracing the heated flush that betrayed her.
“This,” he said, voice rough as gravel, “is a kiss.”
His lips brushed hers. It was barely a touch, soft and tentative, like a question whispered against her skin. The contact was feather-light, yet it detonated through her like wildfire. Every nerve ignited; heat surged from her lips straight to her core. Deena’s mouth parted on an involuntary gasp, a soft, needy sound that invited him in.
And Austin wasted no time.
He claimed her mouth with devastating patience, lips firming, angling, and deepening the kiss until she felt devoured. One hand slid into her hair. His fingers threaded through the pins until her curls spilled loose; he tilted her head back, opening her fully to him. His tongue swept inside. The taste was intoxicating.
His other hand tightened at her waist, pulling her flush against the hard, unyielding length of his body. There was no mistaking his arousal. He was thick, rigid, and pressing insistently against her belly through layers of fabric that suddenly felt far too thin. The feel of him was hot and unmistakable, and it sent a shocking pulse of wetness between her thighs.
“Austin,” she gasped against his mouth, the word half plea, half surrender.
He answered with a low growl that vibrated through her chest. His tongue stroked hers again, deeper and more demanding. Coaxing her to meet him and to match the rhythm he set. Deena’s hands fisted desperately in his coat, pulling him closer even as her knees threatened to buckle. She kissed him back with a raw, helpless hunger. Every suppressed longing was poured out in their kiss. She moaned softly, and he swallowed the sound.
His thigh eased between hers, creating just enough pressure to make her ache sharpen into something almost painful. The friction sent sparks racing up her spine; her breasts pressed against the hard wall of his chest, nipples tightening to achingpoints beneath her stays. She wanted his hands there, wanted them everywhere, skin on skin, no barriers, until she forgot her own name.
“What do you want, Dee?” he whispered in between their kisses.
“I…I can’t say.”
“Tell me. You don’t have to be shy with me.”
She nipped at his lip, and he groaned; the sound made her stomach flip pleasurably.
“I—I…”
