Andre dazzled her. Cast a spell. He had to be a sorcerer. There was no other explanation. One moment Teagan was standing with him in a chamber with narrow passages leading in a couple of directions and the next, when he took his mouth away from hers—and it had to be said, she mewed her disappointment like a kitten in distress—she was in a completely different chamber.
This one still had a dirt floor, but it was warm and there was a pool of very inviting water. Steam rose, indicating the water was hot. There was a bed that actually looked clean, not filled with insects, and the chamber was lit up with fantastic stars on the high ceiling. Torches on the wall gave off a dancing light that flickered across the room much like flames from a fireplace.
Andre lowered her feet to the floor, one arm holding her steady so that she didn’t just collapse into a melting pile of boneless flesh—which was exactly how she felt. Her mouth wanted his mouth back. She could taste him. He tasted as good as he looked and then some.
“Um . . .” She trailed off, looking around her. Um seemed to be her favorite word. She sighed. “Honestly, I do have a college education. As a matter of fact, I have my master’s and I’m quite young for that. You fried my brain.” She couldn’t help sounding slightly accusatory because he really had fried her brain. None of this was her fault.
His eyebrow shot up and the amused look she was growing so fond of crept back into his eyes. She found Andre was doubly dangerous when he gave her that particular look. She’d already melted. Then she lost her mind and kissed him all the way into another chamber and never even noticed they were moving. Well . . . she did feel as if she were floating.
“Your brain is just fine,” he assured. “I checked.”
She scowled. She was good at scowling. She’d practiced all through school when she was trying to study and some of her rowdier friends—all guys—bugged her to wrestle, do martial arts, climb or just plain diverted her attention when she needed to stay focused. She’d even used the scowl most effectively on her brothers-in-law when they called her “shrimp” and “mini-hotcake.” Seriously. They really called her that.
“Mini-hotcake? They really called you that?” Andre proved he was immune to her scowl by reading her thoughts.
“Will you stop? Andre, I’m telling you, you don’t want to know what’s floating around in my head. Especially in regard to you. And right now, I don’t want to argue with you, I want to sit in the hot spring.”
“Actually, you want to kiss me again. I have no objections.”
“Actually, I’m thinking about kicking you in the shins. You’re a total stranger. I don’t know the first thing about you, and I’m not kissing you again. I don’t know what happened, but I’m telling you I don’t do that sort of thing with everyone.”
“I heard you the first time, sivamet. I believe I pointed out that was a very good thing. I would frown on avio päläfertiilam kissing other men.”
He had to stop talking in his native language. Not because she didn’t know what he was calling her—and she didn’t—but because it sounded ultra sexy. Bonehead was most likely.
She waved her hand airily and stepped around him. Well, she started to step around him. He was a big man and stepping around him took a little time. It didn’t work, because he wrapped his hand around the nape of her neck and tugged. He was strong and she found herself hitting him full on, her front to his. Up close. Very, very close.
She tilted her head up to look at him, always a mistake, but then she couldn’t stop herself. She pressed her palm to the side of his face. Gently. A caress really. It was the way he looked at her. The look in his eyes. Like she was everything to him. The air he took into his lungs. His very breath. His world. No, his entire universe. She didn’t understand how that could be so, but she felt the way he was so alone and then not. Then filled—by her.
“Susu.” Andre whispered the word aloud.
She knew instantly whatever he’d said was important, and she filed the word away to ask him later. He still had that look in his eyes and she couldn’t pull her gaze from his.
Andre covered her hand with his, pressing her palm even closer so she could feel the prickle of the shadow on his jaw. His eyes went bluer than ice blue. Beyond blue. The color was incredible. She stared into his eyes for a long moment and then she made another mistake. Again, she couldn’t stop herself. She went up on her toes, pulled his head down to hers and brushed a kiss across his lips.
She didn’t understand what was happening between them, but no one had ever looked at her like that. Not ever. Not even Grandma Trixie, and her grandmother loved her like crazy. No one could look at her like she was the only one in their world. No one other than Andre, who had to be even crazier than Grandma Trixie.
Still, she couldn’t stop herself. She touched her mouth to his. She needed to give him something back. To acknowledge his look. His lips were warm and firm and soft and a blatant invitation to more.
Andre’s hand cupped the back of her head and his mouth moved against hers. For the first time she recognized hunger in the gentle coaxing of his tongue. She should have pulled back. She didn’t know him. She was alone with him. She’d already given one man the wrong impression, with disastrous results . . .
Andre folded her closer, his mouth dominating, commanding even, short-circuiting her brain so that every thought disappeared and she leaned into all that heat and simply caught fire. The rush in her veins was like a fireball spreading through every part of her body. It was the most beautiful, amazing moment in her life. She didn’t want it ever to end.
His mouth was hot and perfect, and she knew she was giving herself to him even as he was taking over. Taking charge of her in a way she would never have allowed if she thought about it. The fire spread fast, out of control, and she wanted it, wanted that burn to consume her. Mostly, she wanted him. She wanted to be his. She felt as if she was his, pure and simple.
You are mine.
She absorbed the soft statement, the one more in her head than whispered in her ear. His mouth kept moving on hers, his tongue stroking and caressing until she couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t catch her breath. For a moment, she thought she might die of kissing if that was even possible, but her lungs refused to work, burning her raw. And then, somehow, weirdly, he filled her lungs with air, exchanging breath with her, air with her, so that she felt him inside her. Close. Twisting through every organ and cell she had, lodging there. Branding himself in her very bones so that if she died and they did an autopsy, his name would be there, on every bone she had.
He lifted his head reluctantly. She clutched at his hair, his neck, hating to give him up. She felt dazed and a little shaky. He held her steady so that if her legs gave out, he wouldn’t allow her to fall.
She stared up into his blue eyes. “What’s happening here, Andre? Because it’s scaring me just a little bit. I’m not like this. Not at all. I’m acting totally out of character, and you’re a total stranger and I’m scared.”
“I know you are, csitri,” he murmured gently, his hand at the nape of her neck, his thumb sliding along her cheek and then finding her pulse in the sexy way that he had. “You do not ever have to be afraid with me. I would give my life before I would ever harm you.”
It was impossible not to hear the utter sincerity in his voice or see it in his eyes. That was just as scary. She was always afraid, but she’d made it a priority to face every fear. This was different. This endangered her heart. She could fall for him, hard. She realized that, looking at his handsome face. If it was just his looks, that would be one thing, but she knew it was much more. They were connected in a way she didn’t understand.
“See?” It had to be said. “Even that is bizarre. You don’t know me at all and yet we’re so wrapped up in this craziness you’d be willing to give your life for me. Does that makes sense to you?”