She stared at him. “I—”
“It was a lovely sound,” he assured her. “Lovely enough that I wondered what it would be like if I did that with my tongue instead of my finger.” And he leaned in and paused, his breathing hitching, waiting for her. Because he’d not engage without mutuality, but god, he longed for it.
“This is a bad idea,” she whispered, but didn’t pull back. Didn’t press forward, didn’t kiss him, but she did not pull back.
He snorted. “Oh, it’s completely meshuggeneh, I agree. After all, I promised my brother I’d make sure everything I did benefitted his goals—ourgoals. And I love him. I owe him everything.” He swallowed. “And I have been rather decent at keeping that promise so far. I’ve been very, very, very good at avoiding situations that could get us both in trouble. However, it appears a situation came to me.”
And in that moment, he wanted this trouble, more than he’d wanted anything in his life. So much that his brain, which often never stopped churning, now had only one clear focus—her. Only her.
“A situation?” She raised both brows. “That’s what you call this?” Her tongue darted across her lower lip again, just as her mouth twisted into that bemused little smile that made his desire ache even stronger and hotter.
She stared a touch longer at him before tucking her lips in, only half hiding what suspiciously sounded like a giggle. And Sol near jumped for joy. He’d got her. Maybe not a kiss yet, but it would come. She wanted it as much as he did. He just had to give her a good chase first. Because, like him, she most certainly enjoyed the chase.
“Yes. One that has made my night very interesting.” He cocked his head. “So are you going to let me prove it?”
“Prove what?” she asked, narrowing her eyes, the suspicion back.
“That the papers and gossip don’t know all of you. That if I kiss your ear, you’ll moan and squirm against me?” And if she wanted, he’d lick several other of her bits and parts. As many as she wanted.
Hannah tilted her head. “And what if you’re wrong?” she asked. “What if your mouth on my ear does nothing for me?”
He snorted. “I’m not wrong.”
“Aren’t you sure of yourself?” She rolled her eyes before folding her arms. “Fine. Even if you were right—”
“I’m right,” he said. “Very right.”
“Debatable.” She sang the word a little. “But even if you are, what if I could make you moan and sigh and what have you, longer and louder.”
He laughed again. Oh, she was so very, very, very good at this game, wasn’t she? A deliciously formidable adversary.
“From my ear?” he asked, because yes, he’d like that but there were other places, several others, where he’d dreamed of having her tongue since they parted.
“No,” she whispered, leaning forward. “From kissing your neck.” Her fingers flitted out, from the holes in her glove, tracing the air just before his Adam’s apple. “This part, right here.”
“Is that a bet now?” he asked, his voice thick, because yes, that was definitely one of his spots. At least one of the more accessible ones at the moment.
“What does the winner get?” she asked. “Because I don’t have a sixpence on me this time.”
“How about another kiss?” he offered.
Her smile broadened. “You can have one if you win,” she told him. “I want something else.”
He swallowed. She didn’t mean…
“What do you want?” he asked, a thousand possibilities sparking in his mind, dizzying his brain and body. Oy, perhaps she really was more than he could handle.
She stepped back from him with another smile and untied her cloak before folding it and laying it on the bed. She returned to him, standing as straight and as regal as a queen.
“A bath,” she told him. “If I win, I get a bath. A deliciously warm one.”
