She forced herself to meet his gaze.“If I were to allow you to seduce me.What,” she said, her voice lower, rougher, “would you do next?”
Nicholas didn’t move, just looked down at her with slow-burning intent.
“Oh,” he said, mischief dancing in his dark eyes, “I would begin with your neck.”
He raised his hand, one fingertip tracing the curve of her neck in an impossibly soft, maddening line.
“Right here,” he murmured.“Where the skin is softest.Where your pulse flutters.”
Bea’s breath caught.She swallowed hard.Hmm.His touch felt quite real…for a bluff.
“And then?”she asked, her voice barely audible.It was a stand-off now.Only a matter of time to see who would blink first.
“Then,” he said, “I would touch your bottom lip.”His hand moved, slow and deliberate, until his thumb brushed the soft swell of her lip.“Ever so gently.To be certain it’s ready for my kiss.”
Her lips parted.Her pulse thundered.
Oh, he was good.She’d give him that.
“And then?”she whispered.
Nicholas smiled, no longer teasing, but heated and intense.
“And then,” he said, “I’d stop talking.”
The pause stretched, and in it, she understood her mistake.Bluffing men hesitated.Nicholas Archer did not.
He kissed her.
Hard.
Hot.
Hungry.
For one traitorous heartbeat, she kissed him back—because her body was not loyal, because his mouth was not fair, because the world narrowed to heat and pressure and the sharp, intoxicating shock of being wanted.
And then she remembered herself.
Bea made a sound that was half gasp, half curse, and shoved a hand flat against his chest.
Nicholas froze—actually froze—as if the boundary in her palm had weight.
“Don’t,” she said, voice low and shaking with fury she refused to name.
His mouth hovered a breath from hers, his eyes dark.“Bea?—”
“I said don’t.”She pushed again, harder this time, forcing space between them.She could still feel the imprint of his kiss on her lips, like a brand.Like proof.
Like a victory he didn’t deserve.
“You do not get to do that,” she snapped, chin lifting.“Not because I teased you.Not because youwantedto.Not because you think you can turn my resolve into a parlor trick.”
His jaw flexed.“You asked me what I would do next.”
“I asked,” she said, breath catching, “as a test.”
“And?”His voice went rough.“Did I pass?”
