a shifter, and he would be able to smell and detect her emotions.
Even if she didn’t mean them.
“Would you just let me apologize?” he asked. He had the audacity to close his hand around her elbow and spin her around like she was nothing more than a spinning top.
His long, thick fingers were wrapped around her naked arm. She tried to ignore how it felt to have his warm skin against her. She really did. But something had happened to her brain the second he had touched her.
It had stopped working.
It had short-circuited somehow.
Bethany didn’t know how it happened, but one second she was looking down at where their skin met, and the next, she was pressing herself into the long, hard line of his body.
Holy muscles was her last conscious thought before she placed her lips solidly on his. If London was at all shocked by the sudden change in her mood, he didn’t let on. In fact, he didn’t even falter for one second, as if he had been expecting her to kiss him.
That was impossible, of course. Bethany hadn’t wanted to kiss him. She hadn’t anticipated her own reaction at all.
But there London was, taking complete control of the kiss. One of his large hands went up to cup her cheek before traveling into her hair. He pulled at the long strands ever so gently to angle her mouth better to his significant height. His other hand pressed against the small of her back, bringing her closer to him.
She moaned into his mouth when she felt an impressive erection digging into her side. How he had managed to get that hard that quick was kind of a mystery. He soon added his tongue to the mix, twirling it around in her mouth. He was gentle, but rough all at once. Bethany didn’t know what to make of it, but she knew she wanted to memorize every single second of this kiss. The second it was over, she would never again allow herself to kiss London Warwick. Nope. Just as soon as she was done exploring every single corner of his mouth with her own tongue. Just as soon as he counted out his abs a thousand times, she would step away and never lay a finger—or a lip—on him again.
Bethany could feel her center moisten at his skilled kisses. It truly felt like London had been made to kiss her.
But of course, it was only because he had gotten so much practice. He had, after all, been a playboy with a flavor of the week for years now.
Reality came flooding back in to ruin the moment, and Bethany pushed against the solid wall of his chest. She took but one second to compose herself, running a hand through her hair to smooth it down where he had fluffed it with the force of his embrace. Her hands then followed the length of her torso and her legs to make sure none of her clothing was amiss. She took another step back from him as she cleared her throat.
“Your reputation precedes you,” Bethany said.
“Does it?”
“Yes. You kiss like a man who has had entirely too much practice.” She raised her eyebrows pointedly at him before turning on her heels.
Chapter Nine
London
London was hard.
And not just a little bit.
The damn woman had kissed him within an inch of his life, and then she had just walked away as if she hadn’t just rocked his world.
With one single kiss.
It’s because she’s our mate, his dragon pointed out. That made sense. Bethany was his mate, and that would mean that whatever the woman did would be downright irresistible to him. He was going to have to steel himself against the lust that was pulsing through his entire body if this benefit was going to see the light of day. His mother wouldn’t thank him if he managed to not only further ruin his reputation, sabotage the benefit, and scare away his mate—and her friend—all because he had a hard time keeping it in his pants.
Yup, London had to smarten up and fast.
Or you could just try to date our mate, his beast hissed as plumes of smoke escaped his flaring nostrils. We’ll need to be with her eventually. This is the perfect opportunity to pull out all of the stops and be charming.
London was at a loss. How could he be charming? He knew how to charm the women he sought after in clubs. He knew how to talk to them on