Page 14 of The Highlander's Dare
“Phoenix,” Graham was saying.
Aye, phoenix birds rising from the ashes. That would be her with his kiss ingrained in her memory.
“Phoenix,” he was saying it in a sing-song voice now and waving his hand before her eyes. “Have ye heard a word I was saying?”
Clara snapped back to attention, a nervous laugh escaping her. “I had quite forgotten that I named myself that.”
“Code names can only work if ye recall them,” Graham said with a taunting raise of his brow. “What were ye thinking about?”
Again, his gaze flicked to her lips. Goodness, but if he didn’t stop doing that, she was definitely going to kiss him. She licked her lips, and his eyes went a little wider. She’d only done it out of nerves, but it seemed to excite him.
And without thinking, she closed the distance between them, grabbed the front of his tunic and smashed her mouth to his.
In theory, the move should have been mind-blowingly epic.
In reality, her nose crushed painfully against his, their teeth clanked together, and she bit her tongue.
Backing up in pain, Clara held her fingers to her lips in confusion.
Graham was staring at her with brows narrowed, looking cross or stunned—she couldn’t decide—and heat flamed to her face. Oh, what mortification. His surprise disappeared, replaced by confusion, and then gentling into something altogether different.
“Lass, if ye wanted a kiss, all ye had to do was ask.” His fingers brushed her cheek, the soft burr of his voice stroking over her skin and making her tingle in places she hadn’t even known existed. “And I’d give it to ye properly.”
Her throat closed; her mouth went dry. Clara opened her mouth to say something, but there was no sound other than the blood running through her ears.
“Do ye want a proper kiss?”
Did she… did she ever!
“Aye,” she croaked.
“We will remain friends when ’tis done,” he said softly. “We’ve still a plan to put in place.”
She nodded. “Friends.”
“Come to me, Phoenix.”
She obeyed instantly, stepping forward, and his hand went to her waist and then around the small of her back. With gentle pressure, he edged her closer until her body was flush with his, and she could no longer breathe for it. His body was all hard muscle and strength, a solid pillar to her curves and her legs that felt like mush, her knees that were growing weaker by the second.
Slowly, Graham lowered his face to hers, their eyes locked together, a slight smile curing his devilish mouth. And then his lips brushed hers, his eyelids dipping closed, and hers following suit as she let out a sigh that she’d seemed to be holding in all the days of her life.
There was no crunching of her nose, no smash of teeth, no painful sting of her biting her tongue. There was only warmth and softness and… pleasure. Clara circled her arms around his neck as he kissed her. He smelled of fresh herbs and the outdoors, and she inhaled deeply, committing his scent to memory.
The softness of his hair tickled the back of her hand, and she curled a tendril around her finger as she clung to him. Wet heat slid over her lips, sending a shockwave of pleasure and excitement through her. Was that his tongue? Graham slid the velvet heat of his tongue over her lips, and then between, coaxing her mouth open, and she tentatively did as he asked, allowing the slickness inside.
He touched his tongue to hers, and she gasped, pulling back from him to stare wide-eyed into his blue gaze, her eyes heavily lidded.
“Phoenix, I think that is enough kissing for today,” he murmured, reaching up to remove her hands where they clasped in his hair.
Enough kissing for today… that left room for more kissing tomorrow, which made her belly flip because she wanted to kiss him again, now. And she wanted him to put his tongue back into her mouth.
“That was… That was lovely,” she said.
“Was it your first?” He passed her a lop-sided grin that fairly said the words, “I know.”
“How did you know?” Her face heated and she pretended to smooth her skirts so he wouldn’t notice how red her cheeks had become.
Graham shrugged. “Something about the way we started.”
