Page 21 of Lawless in Leather

“That’s a lot of things you’ve made up your mind about when we haven’t done anything even approaching holding hands,” Mal objected. Some part of him thought that her arguments made sense. Like went with like or something. But a bigger part of him was thinking that opposites attract. That the more she talked about sequins and weirdness and called him a long streak of trouble, the more he wanted to sit here and listen to her talk. Listen to that little rasp in her voice and watch the way her eyes sparked when she got passionate about something.

It made him kind of wonder just how they might look if the thing she was getting passionate about was him.

“I’m just telling you why this isn’t a good idea,” Raina said.

“I get that,” he said. “But it’s a lot of talking. You’re trying to convince yourself. Which tells me you don’t quite believe what you’re saying.” She started to look indignant again. He held up a hand. “Look, I’m not going to push this if you truly don’t want to. You say no and I’ll turn around and go talk to your security guy and get things sorted out and that will be all I’ll do. No harm, no foul, as they say. But I have to tell you, I’m kind of hoping that you won’t. Because the more you keep talking, the more I want to put your theories to the test. Find out exactly what there is between us before we walk away from it. Maybe that’s perverse of me—my mom always says I’ve got more contrary in me than is good for me—but there it is.”

Raina stared at him. Her tongue darted out to lick her lips again. Whatever lipstick she used was obviously stubborn stuff because the shiny red didn’t budge. He wondered what that mouth might taste like. She reached up and tugged at one of the longer pieces of hair that curled in front of her ears.

“What exactly would putting it to the test involve?”

“I’m a fan of keeping things simple,” he said, trying to sound calm. He wasn’t calm. Her words had somehow set him on fire. She was actually considering this. He might get to touch her. If he didn’t fuck this next part up. “So we could start with kissing.”

“Kissing?” she said, sounding slightly foggy.

Foggy was good. Foggy meant that her brain was working along the same lines as his.

“Yeah, kissing,” he said softly. “You know. My mouth on yours.” Blood roared in his ears suddenly as he thought about it. Hell. Maybe she was right. Maybe this was a terrible idea. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this horny just thinking about kissing someone.

Her hand drifted up to her mouth. “Kissing,” she repeated.

“If you’re not familiar with the concept then you can just come over here and I’d be happy to show you?” he offered.

That coaxed a laugh to those very red lips. “Believe me, I’m familiar.”

“Well then, how about you come over here anyway and we can get this over with? Who knows, maybe you’ll luck out and we’ll have zero chemistry and all your troubles will be over.”

Her smile turned wry. “If I were a bookie, I wouldn’t be giving great odds on it being terrible.”

“Bookies are wrong all the time.” He leaned back a little in the chair, still wary of its delicate frame. “Or maybe you’re just chicken?”

“Oh, I’m not scared of you.”

He crooked a finger at her. “Then come over here and prove it.”

She blew out a breath. For a moment he thought she was going to send him packing, but then she stood and moved around the desk with her graceful dancer’s walk. She stopped in front of his knees. “Just remember this was your idea,” she said. “And you only have yourself to blame.” Then she sort of flowed onto his lap, took his face in her hands, and pressed her mouth to his.

Chapter Five

She’d had some first kisses in her time. Good first kisses, average first kisses, terrible first kisses, and some first kisses she’d classified as pretty darned great. But as Mal tightened his hands on her waist and kissed her back, she realized she’d been wrong about those. Those weren’t great kisses. This was a great kiss.

Hot and sweet and slow as they explored each other.

His hand moved a little and hit the skin at her waist bared by her tank top and leggings and she shivered and wriggled a little closer.

Which made his hands pull her even tighter and suddenly there was no room between them at all.

It stole her breath and set her skin alight and in two point nothing seconds flat, the kiss went from great to unforgettable. Mal’s mouth opened and so did hers and the deep seductive taste of him burned indelibly into her brain.

As did the feel of him right where their bodies pressed together. Leggings weren’t much of a barrier, and it was abundantly clear that Mal was enjoying the kiss as much as she was.

Even as she thought it, he growled a little, a deep hum in the back of his throat, then settled her more firmly against him and took the kiss to a whole new level again.

Supernova.

Turning her into a spark of nothing but heat and the taste of Mal. Brain-meltingly good.

Wait. There was something wrong with her brain melting.

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