Page 22 of Duty Bound

What the hell?

Was she awake? He lifted his head and glanced down at her face. Her eyes were closed, her lips curved upwards in the beginnings of a smile. How come he'd never noticed how gorgeous she was before? He suddenly saw what Spade had seen in her, and what he'd been blinded to by her superior attitude and fast put-downs. The geeky glasses hadn't helped either.

Her leg moved up and down, massaging his thigh.

It felt good.

She felt good.

He brushed a stray hair off her face, resisting the urge to kiss her. Her body was languid and warm, curving into him. A part of him didn’t want her to move. A big, rock-solid part. As much as he was enjoying this, he couldn't let her continue. She'd be so embarrassed when she woke up. As would he.

Blade turned toward her and shook her shoulder. “Lily, come on. It's time to wake up.”

“Kiss me…” she whispered, her hand snaking into his hair.

Whoa!

She angled her face upwards and found his lips with her own. His heartbeat escalated like the rapid exchange of gunfire. He had to put a stop to this before?—

Hell.

She was kissing him. Soft, butterfly kisses that made his gut clench and his breath catch in his throat. He mustn’t respond, yet it was so hard not to. Her lips nudged his open, then she slipped her hot tongue into his mouth.

All rational thought vanished.

He growled, a low sound in the back of his throat, and kissed her back. Long, velvety kisses. Delving into her mouth more than he meant to, holding her tighter than he wanted to, inhaling her scent more than he needed to.

He was losing himself in that kiss.

Losing it. Period.

But damn, it felt so good. She felt so good. Before he realized it, he’d hooked an arm around her waist and was crushing her against him.

Then she stopped moving. Stopped moaning. Stopped kissing.

Stopped everything.

Blade also froze. He'd pushed it too far.

Fuck.

He released her.

Slowly, she opened her eyes and stared at him with horror. “You are not Joe.”

CHAPTER 9

Shit. Shit.

Double shit.

What had she done?

Why the hell was she draped around Blade Wilson? And why had she been kissing him like he was the last man on earth? Worse, she’d been enjoying it.

Heart slamming against her ribs, she recoiled like he was a poisonous snake.

“Sorry,” he said, immediately. “I don’t know what happened. I was asleep and then?—”

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