He tried to ignore the warmth flooding his groin at the feel of her soft lips on his skin, the heady sensation of his blood flowing into her mouth.
She leaned forward, gripping him harder and sucking deeply. A jolt of excitement shot down his spine, and he drew in a sharp breath, swallowing a moan. He didn’t think she’d appreciate his ill-timed arousal.
Then her eyes locked on his and her scent shifted, bathing him in a sweet, musky perfume.
She gulped down a final swallow, then pushed his wrist away. Blood smeared her lips and teeth, her breathing ragged.
She poked her tongue out to lick at the red stain on her teeth and lower lip, never once tearing her heated gaze from him.
He was paralyzed, afraid to move. The minute he released control of his muscles, he’d pounce on her.
A line of his blood coated her upper lip.
“You still have…” He pointed at her mouth.
“You get it for me,” she begged in a low, throaty voice he’d never heard her use. She squirmed against the gravel, pressing her thighs together.
FuckingStygios.
He glanced at the wound on her leg, heartened to see the torn flesh threading back together.
He cupped her cheek, then ran his thumb along her lip to wipe away the blood.
She wasn’t drunk on his blood. Fae blood didn’t have any drugging effects on mortals.
No, something else entirely inspired the heat in her eyes and the scent of her arousal. Something heverymuch wanted to explore.
What was the harm in allowing himself a taste after everything he’d suffered, the harrowing encounter they’d just barely survived?
He brushed his blood-smeared thumb along her lower lip, and her tongue darted out to lick it as she nodded slowly. As if to encourage his rapidly deteriorating self-control, acknowledge his tortured desires.
He leaned in closer, a magnetic throb pulsing in the diminished space between their lips.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Just a taste,” he answered, unsure which one of them he was addressing.
Then lowered his mouth to hers.
* * *
The painfrom the cut on Xenia’s leg had already begun fading, and the second their mouths touched, it disappeared completely.
She pushed up onto her knees, fisting Cael’s shirt and yanking him closer. He wrapped an arm around her lower back and cradled the nape of her neck, pressing his lips to hers in featherlight grazes.
It wasn’t enough.
“Fuckingkissme, Cael,” she growled against his mouth. “I’m not going to break. Neither are you.”
He chuckled softly. “Just trying to ease you into your first kiss.”
She popped her eyes open, capturing his warm, gray gaze. “This isn’t my first kiss,” she whispered.
His eyes widened, but she didn’t detect any judgment as his pupils danced back and forth along her own.
A wicked smile formed on his gorgeous mouth, exposing his fangs. He gripped her hair and tugged her head back, slanting his mouth over hers.
“Tempting little sinner.”
