“We’ve been to the White Stag three nights this week. They are going to start thinking us regulars. And Dresden is no doubt well aware of our presence. I’m sure he has more than one informant in the pub.”
“Then we should go elsewhere.”
“We’ve been to every pub in the general vicinity of the murders. We’ve traipsed all over Middlesex. Our clues are somewhere else for the moment. Which for some reason—” He tapped her chin. “—reminds me of a conversation we had earlier today about beginning new avenues in the morning. Funny that you seem not to recall it.”
She stubbornly refused to recall a thing. “We have to have missed something.”
“Yes, you’ve missed that the only reason you want to go traipsing around tonight is so you can kiss me.”
She lifted her chin. “I do not want to kiss you.”
“Fine. Shall we leave?”
She was taken aback for a second. “Leave? Where are we going?”
“You just said we must have missed something. That we need to revisit our haunts. Let’s do that.”
“Y-Yes.” She smoothed her hair. He was wrong about all those things. She didn’t want to kiss him.
“I have something to show you before we leave, though.”
His mouth met hers before she knew what was happening. A gentle pull, a soft caress. She was surprised for a second.She didn’t want to kiss him.
She melted into his body and called herself ten kinds of fool.
This was a new type of kiss. Exploring and questioning. It wasn’t instructional, or claiming, or for show. It asked a question. She wasn’t sure of the response. So she returned the kiss in the same way. Exploring and questioning. What did he want from her? What type of game was he playing? And did she care? Or was she so caught up in playing it too that she wasn’t thinking of the future?
Her future was muddled and dark. Like the sky before a storm. She wasn’t sure what it would look like come the metaphorical morning. Or if she would still be standing. But this was her chance to taste and explore. To break free from her cage. To be in control of her own destiny, even if for a small amount of time.
His lips ran down her chin. Down her throat. He’d discovered a weak spot at her pulse and had been exploiting it all week. His mouth captured the spot and she arched against him, the air escaping her lungs. He pressed her against the table and scooted her up so she was sitting on the edge. Both hands reached into her hair and he drew her forth to kiss her again. His legs nudged between hers and he brushed against the spot where the heat always traveled.
His hands moved down her arms and wrapped around her knees, tugging her closer and wrapping her legs around his waist. It brought them flush together and inflamed the lovely aching.
“Do you still wish to leave, Marietta?”
He rocked against her and pleasure jolted up her spine.
“No,” she moaned as his lips clamped the spot on her neck.
“You have this lovely dress on, though.” His breath whispered across her neck. “We could travel to some pub and I could devour you in front of the masses. It could be part of the disguise. You wouldn’t have to choose a thing. You wouldn’t have to say that you want this.”
His hand moved up her thigh.
“Wouldn’t have to be in control.”
His fingers moved over her hip and waist and under her arm.
“You could pretend that this is all happening because you are unsure of what to do. That you are martyred for the cause.”
His thumb pressed against her breast and made a deep circle on her nipple. The heat rushed through her body, spreading.
“But I would know that you really wanted this. That you were more than happy to see what lay beneath my shirt. Farther below. To feel your back pressed against this table. For me to bend your knees and bury myself in your heat.”
He didn’t allow her to speak, taking her mouth in another kiss, this one drugging and dominant. His words caused pictures to appear in her head. Things she’d thought of continuously this past week.
“I think you would like being taken, Marietta. And I would more than enjoy taking you.”
She wasn’t surebeing takensounded pleasant. But then again most anything Gabriel did to her ended up being pleasant, even if it was preceded by taunting words or challenging eyes.
