I waited until she softened and touched my lips to hers. “However I may feel for you,” I whispered. “You should know that I am never going to let Thornston touch you.”
She parted for me, and I didn’t hesitate—I claimed her mouth, my tongue sweeping in with a hunger I couldn't even hide. It was supposed to be quick. Tactical. Just enough to fool Thornston. But the second our lips met, the world around us blurred. The air thickened, charged with heat, and something primal snapped loose inside me.
She gasped against my mouth, and my hands moved without thought, sliding beneath her shirt, splaying across the bare curve of her waist. Her skin was warm, silky, maddening. She let out a sound—breathy, needy—and it damn near unraveled me.
It wasn’t fear.
I groaned, low and feral, and dragged he
