Page 9 of The Little Things

He frowned, taking a step back until he was beside her. Then he leaned over until his lips were almost touching her ear. “Very well. I’ll do this for you, but in exchange, you will do something for me.”

She tipped her head and looked up at him, her eyes narrowing.What are you up to, Kail?

His serious expression turned into a wicked smile. GoodLord,this man had such a terrible habit of turning her on in the most inappropriate of places. “What is it, Kail?”

He gently kissed the tip of her ear in front ofeveryone, immediately sending heat into her cheeks. “I’ve been good for your sake, my love. I would gladly tolerate the most excruciating irritations just to make you happy. So now it’s my turn to make a request.”

“Huh?” Her insides turned to jelly, in a pleasant way.

Kail chuckled softly. “I’ve played nice for your little human games, but that’s only because I’m in love with you, my Riana. And when we get home, you are going to doexactlyas I say.”

With the feeling of his warm kiss lingering on her skin and the memory his deep, growly voice ringing in her soul, Riana stood frozen on the spot, completely oblivious to the bright lights and the pulsing music and the frenetic buzz of the crowd around her.

God-damn-it.Now how was she supposed to keep it together long enough to distribute these figurines, prevent chaos, and stop this place from erupting into an all-out shopper war?

Maybe next time, she should drag Kail along to the Boxing Day Sales.

She gave him a dirty look.

He returned it with a healthy dose of heat.

And just like that, her yearning for him blossomed, and she turned into a hot mess beneath her fluffy pink sweater-dress.

Taking her Kordolian shopping had turned out to be a lot more rewarding than she thought.

FIVE

They walked awayfrom the scene of destruction; Kail with his dark grumpy-intense-dangerous aura, and Riana with her post-shopping afterglow as she happily clutched her lime-green Eukia paper bag.

In just a single morning, they’d scoped out a brand new mall-complex, prevented a gross miscarriage of justice, and distributed highly rare limited-editionMerpipisto hundreds of rabid fans, all without Kail ending up killing anybody.

He was getting better at this sort of thing; mingling with humans, tolerating all her obsessions and quirks and human customs, which must seem so strange to him.

Andshewas getting better at just letting him be.

Actually, it was pretty fun walking around with him. He was so big and striking and dangerous-looking that people couldn’t help but stare—and then they quickly looked away when it seemed like Kail wasaboutto glance in their direction. Even when disguised as a human, he was crazy handsome, and Riana couldn’t help but feel extra proud of her man.

Not only because he was a snack, but because she knew exactly who he was and where he’d come from.

Kail never said much about his terrible past. He was impenetrable like that. But Riana knew what he’d been through to get to this point, and the fact that he could peacefully stroll around with her by his side in the midst of all these humans was nothing short of a miracle.

It meant a lot to her that he’d come out here with her; that he’d allowed her to lead and benevolently followed along.

They passed a frozen yoghurt store, with ninety-nine different flavors of yoghurt and a dazzling array of toppings. Riana’s attention was momentarily diverted, but the proposition wasn’t tempting enough.

She was in a hurry to get home.

Kail had hinted about something, murmuring in her ear.

You are going to doexactlyas I say.

Ninety-nine flavors of frozen yoghurt were immediately forgotten about as heat surged through her body.

There was no mistaking that deep, devious growl of his.

And she had every intention of giving Kail his rewards.

Shelovedthat he’d become so free with her.

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