“What was—”
I startled him again as I kissed over the little mark I’d made.
“Chill,hellion.”
“Pun intended?”
I released his wrist. “Oh, definitely. That’s kind of a thing with me.”
He stared at his finger, then lowered his hand. “Huh.”
“I felt a flare of intensity and power. That’s why I looked over there. And other people’s powers intrigue me. I’ve spent most of my life just around dragonkind.”
“So, it was just about that? Not actually him?”
“Well, he’s obviously got a smoldering sexiness about him, so there’s that.” He tensed and I added. “Although, you’ve got thatfierysexiness about you.” I wiggled my eyebrows. “So, there’s also that.”
“You would fuck him, then?”
“Would you?” I fired back, knowing he’d obviously intended to shock me like he had before class had started with hisraging harddickcomment.
But I’d already experienced it from him now, so I knew what to expect, and I could adapt very quickly. I guess there had been one advantage to having dragon politics swirling around me my entire life—never a full participant but needing to behave appropriately had taught me how to read patterns and how to prepare to avoid surprises.
“I’d rather break him into pieces.”
“Afraid, huh?”
“What? Why would I be afraid? Because of that venom shit?” He scoffed. “I could counter it if I had to.”
“That’s debatable given how potent his is. So, word of advice: tread carefully there. But I actually meantafraidin the sense that it would be more intimate with him, nowhere to hide. He’s not gonna let you get away with it like Winter does.”
“How are you getting that?”
“I’m pretty good at reading people.” I eyed him. “Although you don’t seem that surprised, so you already knew that somehow?”
He lifted a shoulder. “Might have overheard some shit between him and Win.”
Ididstart at that.
A devious smile played on his lips. “You want to know what I heard, don’t you?”
“No,” I said, averting my eyes. “It’s their business.”
“Yeah? You’re sure?”
I shifted my weight. “Let’s just concentrate on this exercise.”
He chuckled. “Now you’re all about the exercise.”
I nudged him. “Stop being a dick.”
“A dick, huh? Speaking of that, I can—”
I slapped my hand over his mouth. “Swallow down those vulgar words that were about to come spilling out, bad little hellion.”
He tried to pry my hand away, but I held fast, my strength exceeding his.
“Nod your agreement.”
