Page 43 of Veil of Death and Shadow

He swallowed, and I couldn’t tear my eyes from the movement. “Me?”

“Are you here to have—fun?” I wasn’t usually shy about wanting sex—it was often just an exchange for me, a release. I had rules, kept emotion out of it. But I felt bolder than usual tonight, and right now, I wanted nothing more than for him to say yes. “Or just to brood on the sidelines?”

“Oh, I like fun.” He took another step closer and then another, until my back was against the wall. His arms pressed to either set of my head, caging me there, but it wasn’t lost on me that he made sure, even now, not to touch me. “If it’s fun that you want.”

This close, his body consumed my senses. He smelled like mint and morning dew mixed with something entirely mouth-watering that I couldn’t find a name for in my lust-addled brain.

Heat pooled low in my belly, and I felt my nipples stiffen where his chest just barely brushed up against them—a whisper, the smallest breath of a touch.

He leaned down until his lips were at the shell of my ear. His breath against my neck tore a whimper from my lips. Whatever arousal I’d felt while dancing with Ren and Lenora was nothing more than a shadow compared to what his mere presence was doing to me right now.

What the fuck was it with this guy? And why, when he was around, did everything else just fade into the background?

“It’s Kieran.”

I blinked, fighting to focus. “What’s Kieran?”

“My name.”

“And do you like to dance, Kieran?” Because if we were going to stand here like this for much longer, I was liable to do something ridiculous, like try to climb him like a tree.

“Not really.” He shifted closer, until his mouth was just barely a breath from mine, the ghost of a smile sparking in his eyes. “But I’d like to dance with you.”

I grabbed his hand, my skin humming where it met his, and then led him the few remaining feet to the dance floor.

He pulled me closer, now that I’d initiated contact, his eyes on mine the whole time, like he was waiting for the slightest signal to carve distance between us again.

Distance was the last thing I wanted right now.

There were a million questions I wanted to ask him.

Why did he disappear that day?

Where did he go?

What had the rest of that day been like for him, The Undoing?

How did he know Mrs. Pederson?

Did he live near here?

But the desire to berate him with even one of those questions quickly shaped itself into a very different, very demanding desire.

We moved together, the slow, sultry beat of the song pulsing between us.

His hand was featherlight on my waist as he pulled me in, his leg sliding between mine, like he needed as much of us twined together as I did.

Heat clung to my skin as we danced, slow and steady, until it felt like we were the only two people in Incendiary. The only two people in the world.

His right hand grazed my cheek as he threaded his fingers through my hair.

I shivered as tingles exploded down my body, then I leaned into his touch, craving so much more.

He swept his thumb across my bottom lip, tracing it with a quiet reverence that squeezed at my chest.

I gasped at the sensation, the feel of his skin against mine.

He froze; his gaze locked on my mouth.

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