“Aye, teasing.”
“Teasing!?” she spluttered. “Ye and I make fun of each other all the time.”
“Aye, but it’s a little different.” He stood, realizing that it was probably not helping matters that he had seated himself on her bed. He moved to the middle of the room. “Tease me, Ava, then lay a hand on me arm. Show through touch exactly what ye feel, even as yer words torture me with thoughts.”
“How did ye get so good at this?” She spoke with sudden sharpness, flapping the towel over a screen and marching past him.
“Years of practice.”
“Pff.” She snorted again. “Ye’ve had so many women in yer bed, it’s a wonder ye bothered tae kiss me at all two days ago.”
“Dinnae remind me of that kiss, Ava.” His voice darkened, deepening so far that it made her halt walking. She turned back to face him, her skin paling a little. “Unless ye want me tae do it again, which we both ken ye dinnae want, then dinnae remind me of it, love.” It was the only warning he’d give. He took a step forward, clearing his throat, hoping he would not make the slip of calling her ‘love’ again. It didn’t help that she was so distracting, smelling of roses from the bath she’d just had. “Now, back tae our lesson.”
“Business like?”
“Aye, most definitely.” He beckoned to her to come closer. “Tease me, then touch me. That is what will get Laird Grant’s attention. He’ll be looking at nay other but ye.”
“Very well.” She moved to stand in front of him. Once more, he kept his gaze fixed on her face, unable to look down at her body in that robe, which was proving a heavy distraction. She looked at his arms folded across his chest, apparently deep in thought. He didn’t hurry her, but waited to see what she would do next. She chewed her lip in thought. He stared at those lips, remembering the taste of her from their kiss.
She had been a natural at kissing considering that was her first, responding to each press of his lips and tongue, even boldly meeting him with her own tongue. Just like the warrior she was in life, she was never going to be outdone. Her wish to dominate that kiss as well as his own had been a thrill as much as anything else.
“I’d say tae ye…” she began slowly and raised her hand, trailing her fingers softly up and down the exposed part of his arm. “That ye’re naughty tae come here at night, tae sneak intae me room when nay one kens ye’re here. Maybe I dinnae like how ye creep in here.”
“Yet ye’re touching me,” he played along, wanting to see what she would say next. She was a natural at this as she looked up, those hazel eyes unblinking. “Maybe ye dae like it, love.”
“If I did, I would never admit it tae ye. It’s forbidden tae have ye in here.” She raised her fingers a little higher, moving across the curve of his forearm to bicep. He inhaled sharply at her touch.
“See?” he whispered. “Ye can practice with me easily.”
“I ken.” She didn’t stop touching him, her fingers still trailing.
“Ye ken how tae taunt a man with the forbidden, make him want ye more. Now, why cannae ye dae this with Laird Grant?” he murmured, his eyes watching the way her fingers moved along his skin.
“Because he’s nae ye.” Her words sat heavy in the air between them as they both breathed deeply, in time with one another.
“Ye should probably stop touching me now, Ava, or I willnae behave after the words ye have just said.”
Slowly, she lowered her hand. She didn’t even look at him as he backed up. Those three steps he took away from her felt immensely hard, despite the short distance.
“I think we are done with our lessons.” He sighed heavily. “There’s nothing more I can teach ye. Ye are already an excellent seducer.”
“There is one more lesson I need.” She tilted her chin up sharply. “That kiss…”
“Dinnae remind me of it,” he said heatedly. “I am in yer chamber, alone with ye, Ava. If ye want me tae behave, then dinnae talk about.” The words escaped him in a rush, despite the way she looked at him, almost pleadingly.
“It was me first kiss.”
“Then it was a bloody good first kiss,” he said with a smile, loving the way it momentarily broke the tension between them, and she smiled too.
“I need tae ken how tae kiss, Kai.”
“Ye were a fast learner the other day.”
“Then teach me again. I dinnae suppose ye showed me all that could happen in a kiss, did ye?” She tilted her head to the side in challenge. Something practically hummed in his chest with his desire for her, like a purring predator.
“Ye want me tae kiss ye?” he whispered, walking toward her, slowly, taunting her. “Ye want me tae teach ye all the ways tae please a man through kiss alone?”
“Aye, I dae.”
