“It’s a good kind of danger.” Her fingers moved over the wool of his jacket. “It’s exciting. I like it.”
“Are you sure?” It killed him to say it but he had to. “Because if you don’t want this, you can walk away now. I won’t try to stop you.”
“I’m not walking away, Hunt.” She’d gone very still, staring into his eyes. “In fact … perhaps it’s my turn to give a demonstration.”
“What kind of demonstration?”
“This kind.” Her searching fingers gripped his sleeves and she leaned forward, coming close, her mouth brushing his.
It was light, tentative. Unsure. Almost as if kisses weren’t things she gave out often. Yet the brush of her mouth against his was … intense. Like being in a lightning storm and feeling the hum of electricity in the air. Anticipating getting struck. And shit, he wanted that lightning. Wanted that bolt to go straight through him.
Jax couldn’t help himself, he lifted his hand and slid his fingers around that long, elegant throat of hers. Not holding her, merely letting them rest against the silky heat of her skin. Then he covered that pulse with his thumb.
You’ve got your hand around her neck. What the fuck are you doing?
The thought was a dim one, uttered by the more civilized part of him. But he’d long gone past the stage of being able to listen. He’d already decided she was his. That tonight he’d break the habit of a lifetime and follow the need that gripped him in tight claws and wouldn’t let go.
She was his. His and his alone. And she needed to know that.
She’d gone utterly still, tension in every line of her body. Yet she didn’t pull away. Beneath his thumb her pulse was racing.
He slid his hand up the back of her neck and gripped her. Opened his mouth and let the lightning in.
The taste of her spilled through him, heat and sweetness and warm sensuality. Yet with the edge of something sharp, tart as an unripe blueberry. It was intoxicating. Like the oldest and most expensive of the Highland single malt whiskies, and just as potent. Just as addicting.
She made a soft sound deep in her throat, a moan he could feel through his fingers where they rested against her neck. Then quite suddenly she pulled away, breathing fast and hard, eyes wide with shock.
He fought the urge to pull her back down for more of that kiss. A kiss he hadn’t been ready to end. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing … I just …” She stopped, obviously trying to calm herself. “I’m not used to kisses like … like that one.”
“That makes both of us.” Jesus, he’d never had a kiss like it and it made him want to pull her in close, press the softness of her against the hard ache of his cock.
Very bad idea. She kissed you and you nearly lost your head. In public. You should be stepping away and going home. Alone.
Jax crushed the thought. Surely one night couldn’t hurt.
She looked away, one hand going to her throat where he’d been touching her, fingers brushing over her skin. “Okay, so do you think we can get out of here now?”
Oh, hell yes.
Jax slid off the bar stool. Extracting a hundred from his wallet, he laid it on the bar for Tony, then tilted his head toward the door. “After you, Snow.”
“Uh, are we getting a cab?” she asked a little thickly. “Because I’d rather wait in here than on the sidewalk if you don’t mind.” Again she looked nervous, and he couldn’t tell if it had to do with that kiss or whether it was something more.
“No cab. I have a car.” Of course once she saw the car and his driver, she’d know that he wasn’t some regular Joe. That was okay. If she didn’t know who he was already, she wouldn’t be able to tell from the limo. Besides, there was no way he was going to take a fucking cab back to his apartment. Not when he was this hard, this ready.
Reaching for her hand, he threaded his fingers through hers then moved toward the door, tugging her after him. She came without hesitation and yet, when he glanced back at her, he could see lines of tension around her mouth, her gaze flicking around the room as if she was looking for something. Or maybe someone.
Secrets. Oh yes, this woman had secrets all right and one way or another he would get them out of her. Because now that he’d kissed her, now that he’d tasted the lightning … he wanted it all.
*
Pandora was breathing way too fast as they stepped out of the bar and onto the sidewalk. It wasn’t only because she was hoping like hell Thing One or any other of her father’s bloodhounds hadn’t tracked her down yet, although that was a concern.
No, it was mainly because of the kiss she’d given him. Her first ever. And as first kisses went, she was thinking it didn’t get much better than that. Not that she would know of course, but she’d had an online discussion once with some of her Twitter buddies about first kisses and the general consensus had been that they were both unexpectedly wet and awkward.