Whatwasthat? Like, seriously? Devlin kissed me and it was so HOT!
And speaking of—whydid he kiss me? Why did I let him? Must be because I’m enduring the sex dry spell from hell. Otherwise I never would’ve let my guard down, and my girlie parts never would have tingled and done several cartwheels like they did when his lips were moving down my neck.
Oh gods, it felt so good.
Never mind. Must think about other things.
I’ve got to be concentrating on Storm and figuring out a way to make sure that he doesn’t hate me after I broke his beautiful nose.
“What should I say to Storm?” I ask Devlin.
We’re at the ball, just arrived—separately, I’d like to add, so that no one grows suspicious—but as soon as he entered, I scuttled over to him like a spider needing a fix, put my back to the wall. And started talking.
My gods, he looks good. His hair’s smoothed back, and his jawline looks exceptionally sharp tonight.
Devlin takes two flutes of champagne from a waiter walking by, and hands one to me. “I wouldn’t say anything. Just ask him how he is.”
“But you’ll make sure that he’s not mad at me.”
He quirks a brow. “I will?”
“Of course you will!” I screech. People turn to look so I suddenly study the skirt of my green dress. Wow. It’s very flouncy. When I feel the stares off me, I say, “I mean, won’t you?”
“I got him to come,” he replies, keeping his gaze on the crowd.
“But you promised that you’d get us tog?—”
He holds up his hand to silence me. “I will. I’ll make sure he dances with you tonight, and that you’re well on your way to a blissful relationship.”
Is that bitterness in his voice? “What’s wrong with you? That’s the agreement, remember? You help me, I help you, and you don’t use your power to bed anyone.”
He frowns, stares into the crowd, keeping his handsome face turned away from me. “What if I wanted to?”
My stomach drops. “What if you wanted to use the power to bed someone?”
“Not use the power,” he sighs. He turns to look at me, and it feels like the world is slipping away. He’s staring at me as if there’s something important he needs, must have, desires above all else. “What if I wanted to bed someone?” he says in a husky voice that makes my insides shatter.
I lick my lips, ignoring how it feels like everyone in the ballroom’s vanished and it’s just the two of us. His eyes tear down my face to my mouth. Then they slowly drag back up to meet my gaze.
“What if you wanted someone?” I repeat dumbly like I’ve just learned how to talk.
“Yes. What if I do? And what if I don’t want to use your power to have them?”
Pinpricks of desire dance down my spine as he shifts to face me. Everything about Devlin is massive and beautiful, and all I can think about are his lips grazing down my throat, and how my nipples are now hard as diamonds because I’m stupidly thinking about kissing the wrong man.
“Well, you can’t bring anyone home, not while I’m in your house.”
“What if I don’t have?—”
“Storm Grayson,” the announcer booms.
I jump, startled at the interruption. My head swivels to the front of the room, and there stands Storm, looking beautiful and hot with his perfect face and even more perfect nose.
Thank goodness he was healed. I’m already in the doghouse enough. If he couldn’t be put back together, my chances at a perfect match would have been finished.
“Oh, there’s Storm. I’m going to say hello.”
I start to walk off, but Devlin grabs my arm. “Hold on there, cowboy. Let me talk to him first.”
