I glanced down and saw the fresh gash on my knee. Other than looking gross, it was salvageable. “Thank you for cleaning it up.”

“No problem. I don’t think you’ll need stitches.” He lightly brushed his fingertips around the cut.

I jerked at the contact. Little tingles shimmed up my leg. Daemon’s hand stilled as he lifted his head. His eyes went from a cool green to liquid fire within seconds.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked.

Sliding into his arms, kissing him and touching him—things I shouldn’t think about. I blinked. “Nothing.”

Daemon rose slowly, holding my gaze. My whole body tensed as he neared and placed his hands on either side of me. Then he bent over the chair between us, resting his forehead against mine. He inhaled deeply and it came out in an unsteady rush. When he spoke, his voice was rough. “Do you know what I’ve been thinking about all day?”

With him, it was anyone’s guess. “No.”

His lips brushed the skin of my cheek. “Finding out if you look as good in striped socks as you do in reindeer ones.”

“I do.”

His head slanted and his smile was lazy, arrogant. Predatory. “I knew it.”

I shouldn’t let this happen. There was a whole slew of complications: his attitude, the connection between us, and my new kindergarten-age abilities. Funny, the fact Daemon was an alien was the complication I considered the least important.

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And then there was Blake. That is, if Blake ever spoke to me again, which was debatable. But due to Daemon’s interruption at dinner, I didn’t get to talk to Blake. Irony was a bitch.

Knowing all of that, I still didn’t pull away. And neither did he. Oh no, he was moving closer. His pupils started to glow and his breath seemed to have stalled in his chest.

“Do you have any idea what you do to me?” he asked gruffly.

“I’m not doing anything.”

Daemon shifted his head just enough that our lips brushed once…and then twice before he increased the pressure. This kiss…it was nothing like the other times, which seemed to be angry and challenging. As if we’d kissed to punish each other. But this was gentle and soft, feather light. Infinitely tender. Like the kiss we’d shared in the clearing the night he’d healed me. Light swept through me as we kissed, but soon the kisses, they weren’t enough. Not when a slow fire was burning under my skin—and under his.

Cupping my cheeks, he exhaled a soft groan, and his lips scorched mine as he deepened the kiss until we both were breathless from its intensity. Daemon moved as close as he could with the chair between us. Gripping his arms, I held onto him, wanting him closer. The chair prevented all but our lips and hands from touching. Frustrating.

Move, I ordered restlessly.

It trembled under my foot, and then the heavy oak chair slid out from under me, dodging our leaning bodies. Unprepared for the sudden void, Daemon lurched forward, and I was unable to carry the unexpected weight. I collapsed backward, bringing Daemon along with me.

The full contact of his body, flush against mine, sent my senses into chaotic overdrive. His tongue swept over mine as his fingers splayed across my cheeks. His hand slid down my side, gripping my hip as he urged me closer. The kisses slowed and his chest rose as he drank me in. With one last lingering exploration, he lifted his head and smiled down at me.

My heart skipped a beat as he hovered over me with an expression that tugged deep in my chest. He moved his fingers back up, along my cheek, trailing an invisible path to my chin.

“I didn’t move that chair, Kitten.”

“I know.”

“I’m assuming you didn’t like where it was?”

“It was in your way,” I said. My hands were still curled around his arms.

“I can see that.” Daemon smoothed a fingertip over the curve of my bottom lip before taking my hand, pulling me up. Letting go, he watched me carefully and waited. Waited for…

What had happened slowly sank in beyond the fog in my brain. I’d just kissed him. Again. And right after he’d taken over my date with another guy—the guy I should be kissing. Or not. I didn’t know anything anymore.

“We can’t keep doing this.” My voice shook. “We—”

“We like each other,” he said, stepping forward, grasping the edges of the table on either side of me. “And before you say it, we were attracted to each other before I healed you. You can’t say that’s not true.”

He leaned in, his nose brushing my cheek. A shudder rolled through me. His lips pressed against the spot under my ear. “We need to stop fighting what we both want.”

Air caught in my throat. I closed my eyes as his fingers inched down my turtleneck, clearing a path for his lips to meet my wildly beating pulse.

“It’s not going to be easy,” he said. “It wasn’t three months ago and it won’t be three months from now.”

“Because of the rest of the Luxen?” My head tipped back, my thoughts swimming at his touch. There was something wicked in those hot little kisses he dropped all over my throat. “They’ll outcast you. Like—”

“I know.” He let go of my turtleneck and slid his hand around the nape of my neck as his body pressed against mine. “I’ve thought about the repercussions—it’s all I’ve thought about.”

Part of me had been yearning to hear him say that. A secret I’d kept close to my heart—the same heart that was jumping in my chest. I opened my eyes. His were glowing. “And this has nothing to do with the connection or Blake?”




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