Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 111898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 559(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 373(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 559(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 373(@300wpm)
The doorway to his destination loomed ahead. He’d left Neeka in the sitting room with the mysterious wallpaper. Had her craving for him intensified?
Desperate to see her, he flashed inside. She was dashing from furniture to furniture, testing different poses, each more alluring than the last.
Beautiful vixen.
Her gaze landed on him, and she stilled halfway to the couch, mere feet away from him. He jolted as if hit by lightning.
Amused chagrin overtook her, until she noted the ferocity banked in his features. Her lips formed a small O and all lightheartedness evaporated.
“What do you want?” he croaked.
Eyes hooding, she crooked her finger at him. “Come, give me a kiss.”
“Merely a kiss?” He stood in place and breathed. In. Out. Her scent fogged his head. “Not more? The boon has no restrictions.”
“Well, then,” she said, her voice little more than a whisp. “Give me your very best kiss, and we’ll see what happens from there.”
Yes. He stalked closer. He would kiss her and strip her and give her such intense pleasure she only ever needed more of him—and then what?
The question stopped Rathbone in his tracks. What was he doing?
“You shouldn’t tempt me like this.” He couldn’t have a second fated, which meant he would never be the one for Neeka.
Wonder and awe softened her stance. “I tempt you?”
“Beyond measure.” Every muscle in his body hummed, the melody growing louder as he cataloged even the most miniscule of her reactions. From the sparkle in her amber irises, to the fever-flush spreading over her flawless skin, to her ragged exhalations. “But my situation hasn’t changed.”
She looked away for a moment, as if ending the conversation, and he nearly banged his chest and roared. Not done! Never done. Then she faced him with her chin raised. “That’s not what my instinct tells me.”
As much as he despised his next words, he uttered them. “You’re wrong this time. Confusing instinct with desire.” He hadn’t spent centuries chasing Lore and his dream to give up now. But he couldn’t, wouldn’t stop this, either, if Neeka accepted what he offered. Temporary.
“Maybe,” she allowed. “Either way, I want my kiss.”
“You are sure?” Rathbone closed the remaining distance. His heart thudded. “It won’t change anything. You understand that, yes?”
Her chin rose another notch. “What if it changes everything?”
Proud harpy, determined oracle. Luscious female. “It won’t.”
“Or it will.” She glided the tips of her claws up his chest, barely grazing his sensitive skin. “So what are you waiting for, Red? Pay up.”
“I’ll pay.” He reached up and closed his fingers around a fistful of hair at her nape. For a long while, he peered down at her. “But you will, too.”
“I know,” she whispered, and he was helpless. “Please, Rath.”
With a ragged groan, he swoped down to claim her lips with his own.
17
He wants me. Badly.
Reeling, Neeka wound her arms around her Scarlet King. This. This was her vision come to dazzling life, and reality far surpassed fantasy. From the moment he’d begun his massage, arousal had simmered in her blood, need for him growing.
Who was she kidding? Arousal had simmered long before the massage. And that was A-okay. For once, she wasn’t a convenience her partner used but a femme fatale to be resisted, and she never wanted it to end. She longed to feel this warrior in every cell of her body. To be so consumed by his passion, there was nothing left but the memory of his touch.
He deepened the kiss, thrusting his tongue past her teeth, and demanding a response. Sensations erupted in different parts of her. Teasing swirls of pleasure. Endless coils of bliss. Heated flutters of rapture. Never had she ached so fiercely.
Every hard, possessive stroke was also soft and seeking. A total contradiction, and she couldn’t get enough. Because how like Rathbone himself. There was no one more paradoxical. Married but single. Countless eyes able to detect the smallest speck of dirt while he remained blinded to the wiles of a goddess. Strong beyond imagining but sometimes putty in this oracle’s hands. A good thing. Here, now, she was putty in his. Today, he’d made her feel like the most desired person in the world. Important to his well-being. As if she was alone no longer but part of a divine union.
I tempt you?
Beyond measure.
Intoxicated with feminine power, Neeka poured herself into every return lick. Oh, the taste of this warrior...the thrill...the connection. Not just a divine union but...meant to be?
Icy cold flash froze her blood. Meant to be...as in...no, no. No way, no how. Rathbone wasn’t her consort. Yes, he was one of a kind. A veritable treasure trove of goodness who floated her boat, revved her engine, and lit her match. Not just intense but fervent. Not just determined but unshakable. Not just unusual but extraordinary. Everything she’d never let herself dream of having and a thousand things more.