Page 29 of The Secrets He Keeps

“I’ve hoped.”

She smiled and combed her fingers through the hair at his nape. “Hmm. Now, you play at humility,” she murmured thoughtfully.

He smiled but the curve of his mouth did nothing to soften the intensity in his expression. “Only an idiot would be anything but humble in the presence of the lady dragon.”

The sound she made was a warm purr. “And you are no idiot.”

His hands shifted to grasp her waist. She could feel the tension of his fingers pressing into the stiff material of her bodice, as if he wished to tear it away from her body to reach the softness encased within.

Shewanted to tear the damn thing off, just to feel the smooth glide of his bare hands on her skin. Instead, she gave a subtle undulation of her body. A quiet urging, a silent permission for him to take a bit more.

Eyes blazing, he smoothed his hands up along her sides until his thumbs brushed across the peaks of her breasts with the perfect amount of pressure before he reached around her. One hand slid down to press flat against the lowest curve of her spine, right where her buttocks flared beneath soft silk. His other hand followed her spine up to wrap around her nape. Holding her like that, he brushed a light kiss across her parted lips.

“I’m clever enough to know my first mistake with you would also be my last.”

“You think me so harsh?” she asked in a ragged whisper as his lips trailed to her jaw, then her temple, then the hollow below her ear.

“Not harsh, madam. You are simply too magnificent for most mortal men.”

She gave a husky laugh. The man knew how to compliment a woman.

His hand tightened on the back of her neck, urging her to drop her head, exposing her throat. She expected him to kiss her there. Instead, he held her like that for a moment. Just long enough for vulnerability to spark deep in her heart. But as she met his dynamic gaze, swirling with desire and knowledge, she instinctively knew she was safe in his hold.

“But I am not most men.”

She narrowed her focus on his mouth, admiring its firm lines and the softness that was present only in the fuller bottom lip. She ached for that mouth and its unexpected smiles and intriguing words. She trembled inside with the desire to feel it again on her lips and imagined the many other ways he might use it.

Bringing her gaze back to his, she murmured in agreement, “No. You are not.”

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