8
He hadn’t dared to hope that such a thing might be possible. But there was Lorena, dark eyes shining up into his, as she asked him to kiss her. She knew everything — about the curse, that he was not an ordinary man — and yet she did not shrink from him. Rather the opposite.
His fingers tightened on hers as he rose to his feet, bringing her with him. And then his mouth was on hers, and he was tasting the richness of the claret on her lips, and something more, her own divine flavor, just as the scent of roses surrounded him, coming from the glossy coils of her hair and the folds of her gown.
Their last kiss had been a hasty enough thing, quickly broken off. This time, he allowed it to continue, let them become lost in one another, even as his body told him that it would not be satisfied
