Page 18 of A Tribute of Fire

I supposed it was good that one of us was worried about it. “I am but won’t be for much longer.” I probably should have lied, but I found that I didn’t want to.

Not to him.

“Does your betrothed know that?”

I shook my head. “Not yet.”

His lips somehow came closer without touching me. “I would hate to kiss you and ruin you for any other man’s kisses.”

The absolute arrogance in his statement should have cooled my ardor.

It did not.

If anything, I wanted to find out if he was as adept as he claimed to be.

And I would have happily let Jason ruin me for kissing with any future partners if it meant he would finally press his mouth against mine.

“I don’t normally kiss women like you. Untouched. Innocent. You never know what their fathers might insist on.”

A desperate need for him to continue, to satisfy my curiosity and kiss me, took residence in my stomach, urging me to destroy all his excuses. “I won’t tell him.”

“Neither will I.” There was a gleam in his eyes, and I wished I knew what color they were in daylight because currently they were inky pools of blackness, drawing me in. “You have to say the words, though. That you want me to kiss you.”

The Lia from ten minutes ago would have punched him. But the person I was now? What he had reduced me to without even touchingme? I briefly wondered where my pride had gone before I said, “I want you to kiss me. But I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“It’s easy. Do what I do. Follow my lead.”

The entire world ceased to exist and everything was focused in on this moment—where his mouth finally descended. My eyes fluttered shut and I made a sound when he gently kissed me, his lips seeming to melt into mine. It was strange but not unwelcome. Our mouths were the only place where we touched. I briefly wondered what it would feel like to have those large arms of his wrapped around me.

At first I was overly aware of what I was doing. I paid close attention, trying to be a good student. To do what he was doing, mimicking his movements as his lips shifted and pressed against mine.

But then something changed. Instead of focusing on what he was doing and trying to figure out how I was supposed to respond to it, I began to let go and soon everything felt natural. The kiss was something I was a part of and was enjoying, instead of being tense and anxious about it.

It felt a little like slipping into my bath earlier. I was warm and comfortable and my limbs felt pliant and loose, like I was drifting along in a cozy haze. His kisses were gentle and soft, as if he intended to keep things sweet between us.

While this was nice, it wasn’t at all what I’d been anticipating. It was not what Quynh had described to me.

Like a piece was missing.

He pulled back, as if he sensed my inner turmoil.

I was the one who spoke first. “Do that again. But this time, do it right. I know that there’s more than that.”

His jaw clenched, his brow furrowed, his eyes darkened. “You want me to show you more?” His voice was raspy and tight, which was inexplicably thrilling.

“Yes.”

He raised his hands to my face, cupping it. His eyes stared into mine for several heartbeats and the intensity there was hypnotic. I wasn’t sure that I could have resisted, even if I wanted to.

And I did not want to resist.

Then ... he devoured me. There was no other word for the frenzied passion of his kisses, the desperate way that he moved his mouth against mine. He showed me exactly what I had been missing out on.

I understood that he had been holding back in his first attempt, the same way my regiment had pulled their punches for an entire year. This was not at all like climbing into a warm bath.

It was like being tossed into an active volcano, where molten heat coursed its way through me, licking along my veins, turning me into a mindless body filled with an aching need that I somehow knew only Jason could fulfill.

He pulled back suddenly and his thumb tugged at my bottom lip. “Part your lips for me,” he said.

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