Royal Chase(6)

My heart did a funny little flip. That was extraordinarily thoughtful and sweet. I was about to tell him so, when I stopped myself. I was supposed to be keeping my distance and not encouraging him.

So I stayed quiet, listening to the music, watching but not watching Salvatore.

“I don’t know why you’re making this effort. He’s not worth it. And this will never work with him.” He put one of his arms along the back of the bench, right behind me. His very strong, masculine arm. The one that had felt so nice wrapped around me earlier at the ski slope.

“Work with who?” I forced myself to ask.

“Salvatore. You’re pretending to ignore him. He only wants what he can’t have.”

“That’s true of most men.” Had everyone in the room guessed what I was up to? That I was trying to get Salvatore’s attention?

“He’s worse than most. I don’t know why you want to be with someone like him, but since you do, I have an idea.”

Somehow he managed to get even closer to me. “You should kiss me, and that will make him crazy. He’s always been jealous of me and my brothers. He’s the two hundred seventy-sixth person in line for the throne, and I think he’s been trying to figure out how to kill two hundred seventy-five people without getting caught.”

My body thought this was a fantastic idea, as I was already leaning toward him, face tilted up. My brain tried to run interference, but I made it be quiet. I refused to poll my heart on the matter.

He leaned in, smelling my neck, which made me feel a bit woozy.

“What is that scent?” he asked.

“Lemon sugar,” I said, my heart beating too quickly.

“Sweet and tart, like you,” he said before he planted a soft kiss at the amazing spot where my neck met my shoulder, and the earth shifted on its axis.

I decided it had been far too long since I’d last kissed somebody if this was how I was going to react. I also thought for a moment that I should stop him, but the only thing I said was, “My lip gloss is lemon-flavored, too.”

Which was such a blatant invitation, and from the fire in his eyes and the seductive smile on his face, he knew it.

“I do appreciate the commitment to your name.” He set down his drink and used his free hand to run his fingers up and down my arm, which gave me chills and hot flashes at the same time.

“Well, not everyone gets to be named after a fruit. You have to have fun with it.”

He pressed another kiss to my throat, and I closed my eyes as a tingling warmth spread slowly through my body. Nothing had ever felt this good, ever. I wanted an excuse for behaving like a love-starved teenager. Alcohol. Loneliness. Wanting to make what’s-his-face jealous. Something to explain why I was reacting like this to Dante.

I had nothing.

He took my head in his hands, his fingers softly massaging my scalp, rendering me boneless. I heard something somewhere off to my right and was starting to turn when he stopped me, holding me still.

“Don’t look at him. This will never work if you do.”

“What won’t work?” My brain was a fuzzy haze of buzzing sparks. I felt like someone had dipped me in warm molasses and now I couldn’t move or think.

Another smile. “Making Salvatore jealous.”

Right. Salvatore. That was his name. We were making him jealous.

Only I didn’t much care about making him jealous anymore.

But I couldn’t let Dante know it.

“That is such a total line,” I breathed. For all I knew this was his MO—telling girls he could make their potential boyfriends jealous if they would just kiss him.

And if they were smart, they’d let him do it.

“Could be,” he agreed. “Only one way to find out.”

I waited for him to kiss me. Wanted it more than I’d ever wanted anything. Instead he caressed my face and looked at me. I scooted closer. I was tempted to kiss him, but I’d never kissed a man first. It was kind of a rule.

A rule I was seriously considering breaking.

His breath washed over me. He had been drinking, but his breath smelled like mint. Like he knew he was going to kiss me or somebody else. Maybe I should have been outraged, but he was way too good at what he was doing.

He had turned me into putty in his hands.

“Are you ready?”

I practically jumped out of my skin at the sound of his voice. I wanted to speak, but my mouth had gone so dry I couldn’t. Every other sight and sound had faded, and I could see and feel only him.

He leaned forward and nibbled gently at my lower lip. His prelude to his kiss was making me go just a tad insane.

Then his warm and surprisingly soft lips were fully on mine, and I half expected to hear the “Hallelujah” chorus as a jolt of excitement and heat slammed into me. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him close.