Page 97 of Mirror of Malice
“Yes.” I crossed my arms, forcing myself to meet his gaze. “That’s what I want.”
He prowled toward me now, a gleam in his eyes. “I don’t think that’s what you want at all.”
“You’re doing it again. I’m not your entertainment, Penn. I’m not here just so you can laugh at poor Liliath who gets flustered and bumbling under your piercing?—”
“Piercing?” He now stood before me.
“You know what I meant,” I growled.
Penn swept me into his arms, and my head tipped back as I looked up at him, all the breath gone from my lungs.
“It’s not a game,” he said.
I stilled. “What?”
“When I was on that mountaintop, nearly unconscious, and I had to hear you talk about making love to Jasper, hear the nickname he wanted you to call him, I wanted to rip his head from his shoulders.”
He’d heard all that? Spirits below, I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me whole.
He drew me to him. “I don’t make suggestive comments or flirt or touch you because it’s a game.” His voice was so steady, so firm yet gentle.
“Then why do you do all that?” I asked, not sure I could handle the answer.
“Because I like it.”
“Oh.” My voice came out breathy, quiet.
Penn tightened his hold on me, and I felt just how much he liked it, his hard length pressed against me.
“I like the way your cheeks go pink when I flirt with you.” He brushed a strand of hair out of my face, then let his thumb trail down my cheek. “I like the way your eyes go dark when you’re looking at me. I like the way your mouth feels against mine.” He brushed his thumb over my bottom lip. “The way your body fits perfectly into mine when we fall asleep together.”
At this point, I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to breathe again, to feel anything other than his words rumbling in my mind, in my entire body.
“How could you not see it?” he murmured, head dipping lower, lips closer to mine so that I could feel his warm breath on my face. “How much I want you?”
A hunger filled me. I reached my hands up, placing them on either side of his face. “Then prove it.”
He smiled that feral smile of his, and then his lips crashed against mine.
Chapter Forty-Six
Our kiss was a meeting of teeth and tongue and lips. Penn pushed me back toward the bed, keeping his arms hooked around me as his mouth probed my own.
“Good enough for you?” he said.
“Mm . . . I don’t think so.”
He pressed me down on the bed, hovering his big body over mine. I grabbed at the front of his shirt and pulled him down to me, loving the way his heavy body felt on top of mine. His mouth trailed kisses to my cheek, to my chin, then down to my neck. I bucked under him, and he ground into my raised hips in a way that made me moan. Heat seared every place he touched with his lips, and I wanted him everywhere. His hands roamed down my sides, sneaking up under my tunic and caressing my bare skin. For how rough his hands were, his touch was so gentle, feather-light, as his fingers danced up my abdomen.
“Off,” I said. “Get your clothes off.”
My hands fumbled at the ties on his trousers, and I felt him smile into my neck. “Patience, Lilypad. I can do a lot of things with my clothes on.”
A growl escaped my lips, and he chuckled into me, his mouth coming back up to meet mine.
His hair had escaped out of its tie and curtained his face like a damn halo. He was so fucking handsome.
His tongue pushed into my mouth right when I threaded my fingers through his hair, and we both let out moans that only seemed to fuel our desire.
