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And the prospect of going on several dates with a man to establish the connection she needed in order to have sex with him made her break out in hives. She had enough on her plate with the trouble in the witch community and Rose. Adding dating to that mix was a sure way to drive her insane.
Which left her with the problem of being high-strung with unfulfilled sexual need.
“I’m sure you’ll figure out how to solve it.”
She startled, heat flushing her neck and face. “What?”
Tallak gestured at her phone. “The ritual-sigil issue.” The quirk of his mouth could almost get away with being called a smile. “You’re clever. You’ll find the right information somewhere.”
Taken aback, she just stared at him for a moment. “Did you—did you just compliment me?”
A fluid shrug, lines deepening around his eyes as that almost smile grew. The effect was nothing short of devastating. Tallak with an open smile on his face—directed at her—ground her thoughts to a halt, made something clench in her belly…and lower.
“I’d take your look of shock as an insult,” he drawled, “but I have been acting like a dipshit toward you, so I guess that one’s deserved.”
And then he winked at her.
Winked.
“You rotten bastard.” The hoarse whisper escaped her before she could hold her tongue.
He slowly blinked, blond lashes lowering over those candescent amber eyes. “Those are some strong words to use for someone who doesn’t usually curse.”
Heart thumping madly in her chest, white-hot anger setting her skin afire, she balled her hands into fists. “You’re not playing fair. You’re not supposed to be—” She bit it off, a sliver of reason halting her outburst.
“What?” With a move too fast for her eyes to track, he was right in front of her, his face a scant inch away from hers, his breath a hot caress on her skin. “Spit it out.”
Refusing to retreat a step, she had to tilt her head back to meet his gaze. “Charming,” she pressed out between gritted teeth, as if in a trance, as if his unexpected friendliness had torn a hole in her defenses, left her dazed and grappling to react with her usual cool distance.
His eyes darted between hers with the kind of laser-focused attention of a predator assessing its prey…or a worthy opponent. A dangerous, dangerous gleam in the crystalline orange-gold of his gaze as he leaned forward, torturously slowly, until his lips brushed her ear.
“You’d find me much more than just charming,” he murmured, causing a shiver to course down her spine while she stood in breathless paralysis, “if you spent the night with me.”
Her pulse thundered in her head, making her dizzy. And yet she managed to get out, “I’ve already spent several nights with you. I wasn’t impressed.”
A husky laugh, so close to her skin that she felt it as much as she heard it. “I’m not talking about wandering Faerie’s woods and sleeping with one eye open on hard forest floors. You know exactly what I mean.” His fingers stroked along the line of her jaw, a featherlight touch that zinged down to her core. “I made you come twice without even taking your clothes off. Just think of what I could do when I’ve got you naked and splayed out in front of me…when I take my time…”
Gods have mercy.
Tallak intent on seduction short-circuited her brain and brought her knees embarrassingly close to wobbling.
“One night.” He moved back just far enough that the amber flame of his gaze caught her own, the heat of his undivided attention branding her soul. “We’ll work through this”—he moved his finger from his chest to hers, tapping the skin below her collarbone, causing an electric tingle to shoot out from his minuscule touch—“and make sure we’re both so thoroughly wrung out that we’ll crawl for a week. I know you like to deny it, but you need this just as much as I do.”
The raw hunger in his expression roused her own to the point of pain.
“So let’s take care of it.” His power was a humming force in the air. “We quench this thirst, we gorge until we’re sated, and then we can both walk away from this and handle other shit again.”
Her entire body existed only in the drumming rhythm of her heartbeat. She held his gaze for a long moment, the tension in her pulling taut like a drawn bowstring.
“Yes.”
One word. Simple. Small. And it terrified her, tore down walls she needed to stay up, and yet…she couldn’t breathe behind these walls. Couldn’t live.
She’d been so good for such a long time. Always careful, always proper, the weight of responsibility pressing down on her. This one thing…she’d do for herself.
Tallak became impossibly more focused, a tiger milliseconds before the pounce.
“No talking,” she whispered. “No demands, no strings, no complications.”
