Page 113 of A Promise so Bold and Broken
One of those smiles that knocked the air right out of her with how surprisingly bright and beautiful it was and how little it made him look like the terrifying Death Whisperer.
Raine, on the other hand, surveyed her for a long while, a wrinkle deepening his usual frown as his gaze sliced from her to Merrick.
“What?” she finally asked when the silence stretched too long.
“Nothing,” he muttered.
“Just tell me,” she hissed, unable to control the irritation in her voice.
She’d felt like Raine had kept something from her for a while now, and she was getting tired of it.
“We’re almost there!” Kerym called out as he swung himself down from the mast, landing with a grin before Lessia.
After offering her a little bow, he grabbed her hand and pressed his lips against it. “I agree with you. Fuck fate. Fate let me meet my mate only to take her from me. I am in the mood for a little revenge. And if that revenge includes taking out Rioner… count me in.”
Lessia couldn’t help but grin at him, the frustration melting off her like the droplets of cold rain that began to pepper their faces as she let him pull her into a half embrace. “You and me both.”
“And me,” Merrick grumbled as he nudged Kerym out of the way and tucked Lessia against his body.
Kerym began laughing, and Lessia raised her brows as she glanced from Merrick to him.
When Merrick gave her one of those glacial glares, she tilted her head. “Do you know how annoying it is when you finally have that beautiful smile on your face only to revert to the broody male you always are a moment later?”
As Kerym’s laugh turned into a howl, Raine spit out the liquor he’d just poured into his mouth, and even Merrick’s jaw dropped an inch before his face hardened again.
Shifting her so she stood before him, Merrick aligned their bodies so she was pressed against him, and his nose nearly touched hers when he leaned in.
“Stop angering me, then,” he said softly.
Angling up her head so their faces got even closer, sending a tingle down her spine, she rasped, “I am not trying to anger you.”
Merrick’s mouth twitched. “And yet you’re so good at it.”
Fighting the smile pushing to lift her lips, she shrugged. “I have had a lot of practice.”
Merrick’s nose brushed along hers, slowly, deliberately, and her knees went weak. “Maybe I need to train you to please me instead of piss me off.”
Lessia’s response stuck in her dry throat.
Was that…
Did he mean?
Yes.
His onyx eyes went impossibly darker, and when she nervously licked her lips, his gaze flew down, a sharp breath leaving him.
Heat pooled within her, and the urge to jump up on him—crawl into his lap and wrap her hands into his hair like she’d done by the fireplace on Raine’s island—nearly took over.
Especially when a challenge burned in Merrick’s eyes.
A challenge asking her if she dared.
If she wanted to play.
You make me happy.
Lessia blinked.
