Gently, he lowers me to my feet. Taking my face in his hands, he does a rare thing. He searches my eyes for a prolonged, beautiful heartbeat. “I’d like this. Very much. Please kiss me.”
It’s not at all what I expected him to say. Or do. I thought he’d take advantage of my permission and he would move in to kiss me.
But I didn’t fall for an alpha.
And… I’m really okay with that. I’ve been a single mom for so long that I’m used to taking the reins in every situation, because there’s been nobody leading the way.
With Lucan though, I don’t feel like I’m doing this all on my own anymore. He may not be a leader, but wouldn’t I rather have a partner? He can be that. I already know, rock-solid, he can be great at that. And his eyes tell me he’s here, ready to do anything with me.
Smiling, I wind my arms around Lucan’s shoulders and angle my head, lids lowering as I fit my lips to his.
His lips are firm, but his touch is tentative. He lets me be the one to add the pressure. Lucan, as with everything, cedes control of the situation to me, letting me take full charge of our kiss.
Thumbs sliding along the corded muscles of his neck, my fingers sink into his hair, sliding up, pushing it to stand straight up in back.
I freeze when he involuntarily growls—not because I’m scared, but because his chest vibrates against my perked nipples and even through my tunic and bra, it’s perhaps the most amazing sensation I’ve discovered in a very long time.
My eyes slowly open to find Lucan with pupils blown wide, his focus fully on me.
This much direct eye contact, in quarters as incredibly intimate as this, prove to be too much for him—his lids snap closed almost as if he wasn’t ready to stop meeting my gaze but his body forced him to lock it down.
I laugh softly, my breath puffing against his lips, and I get to watch them stretch up into a wry, sexy smile. He still can’t look at me, but he’s responding to me. He’s right with me.
It takes my breath away.
He takes my breath away.
His hands are clamped on my hips, but his left one leaves its hold, skating up my side, my arm, my shoulder—fitting itself along my cheek. His fingers sink into the hair behind my ear, the near-caress from his strong digits making my scalp tingle deliciously.
His thumb fits gently to the hinge of my jaw, the rough brush of his skin exciting all by itself. But then he applies a little pressure with his fingers where they’re buried in my hair and braced against my neck, all joining in to clue me into a silent, demure cue.
Charmed, biting my lip and staring into his downcast eyes, I follow his polite lead and tilt my head for him.
He kisses me this time, taking charge with a quiet, modest authority. There’s hunger, I can taste it not from his lips, but from the hardness of his muscles everywhere he’s pressing against me. I can feel it in the needy grip of his hands. Yet nothing in his manner is aggressive in urging me along. He doesn’t even force us to madly kiss until we’re breathless; he breaks away just as gently as he began.
“You are so sweet,” I breathe.
His gaze meets mine, just a flicker, and then he’s staring at my lips. “You are too, you know.”
My hands make their way to his ribs, wondering if I can get him to untuck his shirt so I can feel his bare skin. “How long do you think we have until the girls miss us?”
His eyes connect with mine again, longer this time. More comfortable. “That depends. I’m pretty sure Ginny and Charlotte are rooting for us. They’ll be disappointed if we come back at a time they’d deem too early. Maggie is the wild card.”
I tease my fingers up and down along his sides, secretly thrilled when this makes his hands tighten on my hips. “She’s got Liam to entertain her. I think we might have some time.”
Lucan’s swallow is audible and visible. “Good… because we need to talk.”
I nod to that, knowing that after he revealed what he did back at the house, we won’t get a better chance than this to have a private word. But my hormones are keyed up in a way that has me glancing around, a thrill of