Page 79 of Misfit Monsters
Peri provides the perfect opening before I need to. “Thank you for trying to get Gloss to stop bothering me back at the school. I know sometimes I’ve bothered you too—I never meant to. I hope we can keep getting along better.”
I stop and turn toward her, tugging her hand so she faces me at the same time. “I hadn’t taken the time to get to know you,” I say, picking the words I think will hit the mark best. “There’s a lot more to you than I realized. It’s hard not to appreciate that once I’ve noticed.”
When I skim my fingers along the arcing line of her jaw, Peri’s eyelids dip. A ruddy light wavers through her hair that matches the hunger stirring inside me.
Good. My usual skills work just as well on her as almost every other being.
She’s not so special after all.
I lean down and brush my lips against hers.
Peri kisses me back, resting her free hand against my chest as if to steady herself. As her fingers curl into my shirt, the warmth of her touch spreads through my usual chill faster than I anticipated. A pang of need shoots straight to my dick.
She shouldn’t have that effect on me. I shouldn’t want her this much.
Just get it over with. Prove that she’s nothing more than all the other fawning women who’ve thrown themselves at me. There’ll be nothing intriguing about her then.
Deepening the kiss, I nudge her against one of the trees. A quiver runs through Peri’s body where we’re pressed together.
She eases her head away from mine. Her voice comes out breathless. “Wait. Where do you want to go with this?”
I can show her without any words. I trace her side from the slope of her breast to the curve of her hips, and the gasp that slips out of her has me fully hard in an instant.
That’s right. Just like this. It’s always so fucking simple.
I dip my head to kiss her neck. Her honey-sweet scent floods my lungs, her skin temptingly tender against my lips. All that power she holds in this marshmallow of a body, and she gives herself over to me so easily.
It’s a fluke. The effects she can provoke—all of them—are totally meaningless. Accidental stumbling. She doesn’t really see anything.
She doesn’t know me. How could a being like her have any idea?—
Peri’s hand tightens where she’s clutching my shirt. All at once, she’s pushing me backward, stepping to the side at the same time to put more distance between us.
I blink at her, frustration and unfulfilled desire swelling up inside me in tandem. What the fuck is she doing?
Those gem-like eyes peer into mine. “I can’t do this without talking to Raze first. But I don’t think it’s a good idea anyway. You’re not really happy about it.”
A jab of irritation hardens my voice. “Of course I’m happy. I wouldn’t kiss you if I didn’t want to.”
Her brow knits as she studies my face. I have the sudden, shameful urge to flee into the shadows so she can’t see me at all.
“Maybe,” she says, so gently it sets my teeth on edge. “But it’s also making you upset. What’s the matter? Are you nervous about running into more of those strange shadowkind tomorrow?”
How can she veer off onto that random subject when I was working over her body less than a minute ago?
I step closer. “I wasn’t looking to talk.”
But when I dip my head and reach for her face to draw her mouth back to mine, she jerks farther away.
A deeper crease forms between Peri’s eyebrows. “Something’s wrong. It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me about it, but I can’t ignore it.”
A twisted mass of anger and helplessness knots in my chest. “Well, forgive me for wanting to fuck you,” I snap, and stride off without looking back.
My heart is thudding too quickly, my limbs still flushed from the feel of her.
Where did I screw up? How could she shrug off what I was offering like it was nothing?
And why do I feel so awful that my caustic last words might have cost me another shot?
