Page 40 of The Marriage Deal
Something dangerously possessive.
“Now we’re engaged.” My voice sounds rougher than I expected.
Her eyes snap from the diamond on her finger to me. Her lips part and a small, “What?” escapes.
“You can make those arrangements, Lilah,” I tell her, nearly laughing at the look of shock on her face. Honestly, I wasn’t certain the woman could be shocked.
I’d laugh if I wasn’t feeling somuchmyself.
“Arrangements?”
Jeez, she’s cute.“For the dog, little lunatic.”
“Oh.” She blinks in rapid succession. I think she’s trying to clear her head.
I want to muddle it some more. “But first things first. I think it’s time for that kiss.”
“Kiss?” Her eyes snap wide. So fucking sweetly wide. Pink crawls into her chest and she presses deeper into the fridge, as though she might escape this kiss. Escape me.
Not a chance.
“Gotta seal the deal, baby.” I dip my head, tasting honey on her breath.
I hesitate for only a moment. Just until I hear the trembling, “Okay,” fall from her lips in a whisper that alters my world.
Then my lips crash into hers.
Fucking. Hell.
17
FIVE ALARM FIRE
LILAH
Fireworks detonate under my skin.
His lips are on mine.
Briggs is kissing me. Kissing. Me.
I can’t think. I can’t think.I. Can’t. Think.
He tastes faintly of beer and man with the echo of the hot, hot sun burning up a vineyard. He tastes like the leap from the falls into the blissfully cool pool beneath. He tastes like life.
A blade of something foreign and undoubtedly dangerous twists violently in my belly, loosing the knots of desire I wish I didn’t feel for this man. Unravelling them. Unravelling me.
But oh, I do feel it. Desire.
I do want him.
God, I shouldn’t.Even still, I feel my hand rising. His fingertips, rougher than my own skate over my palm to trace the vein of my arm as I lift my hand to the back ofhis neck. I need to be closer. I want more of this thing, this kiss—this manthat I shouldn’t want at all.
With my hand on the back of his neck, I pull him closer. A groan so dark and decadent I nearly fall to my knees escapes him to invade my mouth, crawling over my tongue. The vibration of it invades my soul and promises dark wreckage I may never come back from.Do I want to come back from it, really?
I’ve never been kissed like this.
Briggs’ hand—the rough one he put the ring on my finger with—the very same one he trailed across my skin as I hooked my hand around his neck scoops me around the waist, slamming me into the solid mountain of his body and hiking me up.
