Page 66 of When the Woods Go Silent

One side of his mouth is hooked up in a cocky-ass smirk as he leans one arm on the bookshelf over my head, staring down at me.

“Fast or slow, it doesn’t matter to me, petal. All I want is the chance to erase every other man from your memory.”

A laugh slips out of my mouth at his audacity. “A little full of yourself, aren’t you?”

Kier leans forward, inch by tortuous inch, until his lips are brushing my ear again, and a desperate need sears through my body at this tiniest touch. “I never leave a woman unsatisfied,no matter how long it takes. And if my tongue isn’t enough, my ladder piercing always is.”

“Your...” My voice trails away as I realize exactly what he’s talking about, and my brain gets busy imagining all the ways those piercings could feel good. Goddamn it, that’s on my bucket list.

Kier’s smirk stretches a little farther, like he’s reading my exact thoughts. “Worth it every time, just to see the blushes,” he says.

“Just a bluff, then?” I snip, sidestepping him as I give myself a mental slap for being too easy to read.

Kier only gives me that knowing grin. “Absolutely not a bluff. I have five rungs for you to climb, anytime you’re ready.”

He doesn’t even look back at me trying to swallow without choking as he swaggers into the next room.

And me? Fuck it, I’m trying not to touch my upper thighs to see if there’s a wet spot on my jeans, because my panties are soaked.

This man is trouble, and I’m about to get tits deep into it.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

KIER

I smell my brother all over the fucking bookshop, and I’m desperate to know if he found anything about Rose that I might have missed.

The second I had stepped out of the palace and saw him gone, I knew he’d tricked me. Delayed me with Brigance so he could go behind my back. Fucking bastard, always double checking my work.

Either he trusts me even less these days, or he suspects the changeling could be in Clearwater, too.

It’s this second possibility that had me scouring the town all over again all day, tracking his scent until it led me right back here toUnder the Covers. The bookshop, and the women. The books that hold magic, and the women who definitely shouldn’t.

“Tell me about your first day. Many customers?” I call, knowing Rose is following me, warring internally over whether to let me bend her over that checkout counter or make me wait a bit longer. I have my preferences, of course, but I’m patient when I need to be.

“Eleven sales. Ruby thinks that’s good.”

“And you want more?” I ask, tossing her a wink over my shoulder.

“Well, you can never be too rich, right?”

I don’t answer this question. I’ve never known a day when I didn’t have coin or means to get it, and I found out early that humans never like hearing about it. “Any tourists yet? Or was it mostly locals?”

I hope she can’t tell that I’m fishing. I can’t exactly ask if there was another tall, gorgeous man with an accent checking to see if she has hidden magic.

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