way you say my name. I like the way you laugh. I like the way you twirl your hair around your finger when you’re thinking or stressed. I like the way you look, and the way you smell, and the way you sound. I like you, Dawn. I like everything about you. How could you not know that?”
Dawn looked so genuinely astonished that Knox simply could not resist kissing the stupefied look right off her face. He leaned in quickly, capturing her lips, and immediately tracing them with his tongue. They parted for him and he slipped inside, her tongue duelling hesitantly with his. Knox groaned, placing his hands on Dawn’s rounded hips in order to ground himself. The kiss was so phenomenal he was concerned he was going to float right off the floor. He was gratified to feel Dawn take over the kiss, her moans and gasps guiding him to what she liked.
“I am going to break this over your head!”
Willow’s voice reached them loud and clear and Knox pulled back, instinctively ducking, thinking the paladin was talking about him. When no blow came, he slowly turned around, only to find it was Kai whom she was threatening with bodily harm. Standing up reluctantly, he gestured toward the pool table. “I’d better go save my son from your paladin. Pool sticks are expensive to replace,” he joked.
Dawn’s mouth was red and puffy and still in a perfect ‘O’. She was clearly still in shock, Knox surmised. Still, he couldn’t resist bending down and gently pushing her chin up. Once her mouth was closed, he placed a chaste kiss there, murmuring, “Think about what I said, okay?” before he went and saved his idiotic son.
If only so I can kick his arse myself, Knox thought. Kai’s antics had interrupted the best damned kiss of Knox’s life.
Chapter Eight
The following day, Dawn was curled up on the padded bench on the patio out the back of her rental. It was mid-afternoon and she had spent a restless night obsessing over the kiss she had shared with Knox. Her lips tingled just thinking about it and she licked her lips, swearing she could still taste him there. Dawn looked at the ocean as she thought about what Knox had revealed. If she was so damned irresistible why had she been single for the last couple of hundred years? Other than Andre – aka the ham guy – not a single warden or paladin had approached her because they liked her. Sure, she had the offers and requests from life wardens for the continuation of their domain. But those offers had been for nothing more than breeding purposes. She studied Micah, who was casually leaning against the house beside her, sharpening his sickle. He was undeniably handsome with his dark hair, light blue eyes and boyish dimples. He was six-foot-two inches of naturally brown, extremely toned skin, and his abdominal muscles were an easy half-dozen.
“Why haven’t we ever had sex?” Dawn suddenly blurted out.
Micah looked around in every direction, even going so far as to look under the lounger she was sitting on before he answered her. “Are you talking to me?”
Dawn huffed out a breath. “Yes, I’m talking to you.” Micah started to laugh, and Dawn smacked his arm. “I’m serious!”
Micah stopped laughing abruptly. “Oh. I can see that. Dawn …” he looked confused as well as concerned as he sat down beside her. “Do you want to have sex with me?”
The look of sheer disbelief on his face was enough for Dawn to feel downright humiliated. “You know what – forget I said anything.” Before she could stand and make her escape though, Micah reached out and grabbed her by the shoulders, effectively caging her in.
“Talk to me,” he urged.
The genuine worry in his kind eyes, had her feeling even worse. She didn’t need the Order bond to know he was wondering if she was having some kind of breakdown. Dropping her head into her hands, Dawn groaned. “I’m just so confused.”
“If you’re confused, then why don’t we clear it up?”
Dawn had no idea what Micah meant until he grabbed her face and fused his mouth to hers. Her eyes opened wide for a moment, before she allowed him to kiss her, even going so far as to open her lips and touching her tongue to his for a brief moment. When she finally pulled back, she had just one word to say, “Oh.”