I caught a glimpse of his sentence mark again, the spirals faint, but the centre was fiery red and gleaming.
“Do I get a thank you for teaching you?” he asked, a breathless sort of tone in his voice.
My lips curled despite myself, and I craned my head back, meeting his gaze.
“I was going to thank you. I’m just trying to catch my breath first.”
He took a step closer. “Do I get anything in return?”
His warm, fresh breath brushed over the bridge of my nose. His eyes dropped to my lips—simmering. Irises swirling like the liquid around us.
My mind drifted to the way he had been looking at me just minutes ago.
I swallowed, sensing an eager, nervous feeling crawling in. My voice came out in a low breath.
“What do you want?”
Reagan’s hand found my chin, his other hand pressed flat against the wall behind my head, the liquid dripping from his arm as he leaned in.
“A kiss. That’s what I want.”
CHAPTER 16
Phantom fingers caressed my scalp, over my nape.
The space between his body and the stone behind me was barely enough to move. His arm, braced beside my head, all but trapped me in place.
“Why would you want to kiss me?” I asked, narrowing my eyes. “I thought I was just a little human to you.”
He bobbed his head idly from side to side. “Human, mage...That matters little to me.” His voice dropped to a deep murmur that had parts of me clenching. “And you know what, Darling? I daresay that your interest is the same as mine.”
Keeping my expression carefully blank was an effort, my teeth nearly clenching at the sheer presumptuousness of him. And yet, I might as well have written my attraction across my forehead before we entered the pool.
Whatever this was, I didn’t trust it.
“Is that what you think?” I asked, evasive as ever.
I was acutely aware that I still hadn’t asked him to step away.
“That is what I think.” He grinned, his teeth grazing his lower lip. I wondered what it would feel like to have those teeth on my skin. “I saw the way you were looking at me. The way your body is giving you away right now.”
His eyes dropped, and I already knew what we would see there. My skin prickled, my neck flushed, and my breasts—my breasts had tightened against the fabric of my bra. The liquid engulfing us was so warm I couldn’t even blame it. No, this was all him.
I could have peered down at him, could have tried to see if he was as affected by this as I was. But a rough chuckle rolled out of Reagan’s mouth, catching my attention.
My heartbeat thundered. “This is a twisted joke to you, isn’t it?”
I shoved at his chest, but he didn’t so much as sway. Reagan caught the wrist that pushed him, holding it between us, his smile dimming.
“It’s not a joke,” he responded firmly, not a trace of irony in his tone.
Those fingers on my chin moved to my jaw, his thumb brushing over the crest of my cheekbone in a slow stroke. I considered tearing his hand away, yet...that expression—there was something in it that looked awfully like honesty.
I just didn’t know if I could believe him.
“Explain,” I said, my voice commanding, letting him keep his hand.
His eyes were smouldering, locked on me. “I think about you, Jane,” Reagan murmured, his thumb finding the corner of my mouth. “I’m curious about you. I have wondered about all sorts of trivial things. What makes you tick, what makes you laugh, what makes you squirm.”
