Page 66 of Goblins Don't Count
His eyes softened. “Neither will my sister. And I doubt she’ll try very hard. I’m worried that she’ll start flirting with Tarn.”
I wrinkled my nose. “That would be awkward, but he’ll just flirt back. He’s apparently had experience with goblins.”
“Not my sister.”
“He’s not dangerous enough for her.”
He winced slightly. “He’s getting there.”
I grabbed his arm. “What do you mean? What is my brother involved in?”
He covered my hand with his and leaned closer until our foreheads bumped. “Shall we lock him in the vault?”
“Maybe,” I breathed back.
The next thing I knew, his mouth was on mine, and he was kissing me in a way that filled me with agonizing burning. I needed him to devour me like I was his heart and soul. I needed him, his touch, his heart, his love. I needed him to want me like I wanted him.
For a few precious minutes, I forgot about the rest of the world as I let him devour me, exactly how I needed to be tasted. Then the limo stopped, and I was left to face dinner with my parents.
He slid out of the back, then held his hand out to me, like I couldn’t possibly get out on my own with the way my heart pounded and whirled in my chest. Maybe he was right. Or maybe I just needed to hold his hand, to have some of the physical contact that had been so necessary to me a few minutes earlier. I was still angry at him for threatening me with imprisonment, but he was a goblin. He was trying to be civilized for me. Even when it went against his nature.
“Did you actually eat the bodies of the dead?” I asked, without realizing what was coming out of my mouth until it was too late.
He gave me a puzzled look as he led me down the alley to the building across from my parents, to the old metal door that had been locked for as long as I could remember. Now it was wide open with urns filled with flowers on either side.
“Yes.”
I winced at his calm and easy smile. “Did you like it?”
“Your sushi is better.”
“Oh. That’s good. So, you could actually eat me if you got dress drunk?”
“Not unless you were already dead. People who eat live people are even more uncivil than I am.”
“Good to know. And you’ve killed a lot of people?”
His voice was level, indifferent. “So many. I was born during a war that lasted a century. It was a very stupid war. Like the curse.”
“Which do you like better, killing people in war or assassination?”
“Assassinations are more interesting, particularly if they’re a challenge, such as having to make a public figure look like they died accidentally. The demon at the courthouse was very sloppy. Suicide should require more effort than that. You have to start with the living target and build a trail of…” He stopped talking when he realized the way I was staring at him. “You were just checking to see if I actually had killed people by assassination and war. Yes. They are both terrible things. Feel better? No. Because you’re Lady Justice and I am the Goblin King.” He sighed heavily and gestured me through the door. “We’re going to eat on the roof.”
“Where you ate my dress? Where we made out? That’s not going to be awkward at all.”
He showed me to the open elevator, and we got in, standing there as it slowly rose. “I’m sure it will be awkward, but probably not because of memories of…” He trailed off, like he didn’t know what to call it.
“Dress drunkenness.”
He gave me a sharp look. “We could call it that, but that wouldn’t explain all the other times I’ve tasted you without the excuse of a narcotic.”
And that wasn’t awkward at all. “Stress,” I finally said. “This whole situation is very stressful.”
“If I took your mouth now, would that give you more or less stress?”
My heart started pounding, my mouth watering, all of my pinging like an electric current was going through me. “At a dinner with my mother? More. What about you?”
He gave me a slight smile. “For me, it is always more stress to sample your mouth. You see, you’re so soft and delicate. And I am so viciously violent.” He bent down and slid his teeth over my bottom lip, excruciatingly gentle, pulling away right before the elevators opened onto the roof.
