Page 93 of Losing Wendy

I jut my chin backward.

“What? Disappointed?” Peter asks teasingly.

“No, just surprised. I didn’t know fae…” My cheeks blush.

“You didn’t know fae what?”

“I was always under the impression that the fae of old foundhumans undesirable. I’m surprised one took a liking to my ancestor, that’s all.” I’m not sure why, but my mind flashes back to the captain, to his utter disgust as he beheld me approaching him.Why would I be interested in dancing with a spoiled heiress who looks as if she’s hardly been weaned?

My stomach sours, but I tuck the memory away. No reason to let it crawl through the snug hold Peter has on me now.

“Who gave you that idea?” Peter asks, his eyes glinting.

My blood turns up the heat a few notches, so much so that I almost feel feverish. “Just a few books.”

“First the poets, now you’re believing fiction. We need to get you better read, Wendy Darling.”

“They didn’t tell me much about Shadow Keepers, either. Or, they did, but now I’m wondering if they could have provided false information. Perhaps you could educate me,” I say, breathless.

“Do you think I deserve that honor?” Peter asks.

“I think you deserve so much more than you give yourself credit for.” It’s not the couth flirtatious response my mother would have taught me. Not the type of thing you say to a man whose attentions you’d like to capture. It’s too honest. Too raw. Too open. The type of thing that makes men lose interest.

But I was never good at maintaining men’s interest, anyway.

Peter’s eyes flicker with something I don’t recognize. “You’re wrong, you know.”

“How do you figure that?”

“You think I can be more for you. Someone I can’t be. You think I’ll be your knight in shining armor.”

“I’m tired of knights in shining armor. They never came to rescue me from my tower. Only you did that.”

“Did I rescue you, Wendy Darling? Or did I steal you away?”

Our lips are close now. It’s a feat they don’t touch with how I’m trembling. “I’m starting to think that perhaps I needed to be stolen.”

The edges of Peter’s lips twitch. “I’m inclined to agree. You’re mine, Wendy Darling. Don’t ever start thinking otherwise.”

My breath catches.

“Does that frighten you?” he asks, blue eyes lingering on my mouth.

My answer comes without hesitation. “Yes.”

“And what about this?” he asks, brushing his lips over the edge of mine. “Does this frighten you?”

I don’t answer. Don’t have to. Because the way I’m trembling brings a sly grin to his face.

“Good,” he says, lingering so close it’s almost more intimate than actually touching.

“I thought you said you didn’t want me,” I breathe.

“I say a lot of things.”

When I can’t stand it anymore, I lean in.

Peter’s mouth is ready for mine, and his lips drag me into the kiss, suffusing me with a greedy abandon I can’t quite contain.

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