Page 36 of King’s Kismet

She paused, her t-shirt bunched around the top of her chest. She blinked in rapid succession, as if she were trying to process my words before she coughed.

“What… Uhm, which part were you listening to?”

I slowly stalked around her, shrugging my shoulders as I fumbled for the right thing to say. When English and French failed me, I gave her a megawatt smile. As I reached her back again, I stopped my prowling.

I needed the slim amount of privacy to swallow my doubts.

My hand moved, having a mind of its own as I collected my thoughts. I ran my index finger up her spine, loving the slight flex of her toned muscles. When I reached her neck, I brushed her hair over her shoulder, observing the goosebumps that dappled across her skin.

I knew she wasn’t cold.

I leaned in, letting my lips touch the shell of her ear as I whispered, “All of it.”

Trouble jerked her shirt down and spun to face me. Her right eyebrow raised in question as she bit her lips.

“All of it?” she repeated.

Her mind flashed images of that gods awful movie Palmer made us watch too many times to count. The scene, though? I couldn’t hide my amusement as a knight shrieked, “Run away!”

I nodded, fighting not to chuckle at her, but I knew my eyes would give me away. “All of it.”

I would have spotted her subject change before she spoke, even if she hadn’t been thinking about me blocking the exit out of the closet. She might have considered running, but she wasn’t trying to magic her way out.

Her expression relaxed. I thought she might have been aiming for blank, but she couldn’t hide the slight panic. I felt the same, which made me wonder if I was covering my emotions or wasting my time trying to hide them.

“Do you know what’s going on with Vaughn?”

I shook my head. “Go back a few more thoughts.”

She tilted her head, pursing her lips like the stubborn, half-naked minx we all knew she was. “I still think Stone is an incubus, or at least part incubus. It makes sense.”

“A little more, Trouble,” I encouraged, taking a step toward her.

She backed away, shrugging. “I really enjoy being around you.”

I raised my brow, my skin stretching over the steel rings as I prompted, “And?”

“And laughing with you.”

“Uh-huh,” I agreed, my voice coming out raspy as nerves fluttered in my chest. “And what else? Say it, Sloane.”

“You keep taking that tone with me and I won’t get shit done today.”

The motion she made with her hands was meant to be authoritative, but I only smirked and took another step forward.

“Say. It.”

She rolled her eyes in exasperation while squeezing her thighs together. I felt like that was definitely mixed signals… but the good kind.

The kind that said she still hadn’t run, and though she might be hesitant, she was also frustrated. Sloane wasn’t going to back down if I was getting under her skin.

She clenched her teeth together, speaking between them. “I have feelings for you.”

I studied her expression as her thoughts bounced between irritated and lusty, the first feeling only lasting milliseconds before it was swapped out for the other.

I furrowed my brows, wondering if I could get her to admit more of her thoughts. “Mmm, and what did you call those feelings?”

“Fuck,” she stammered, “You’re being really intense right now, and I can’t tell if I’m more turned on or worried.”