RISING (#2, of Crows and Thorns)

Chapter 30

A moment later, a furrow deepened between her brows. Her glossy red lips parted as she stabbed a finger at me and barked, "I SAID—GET YOURSELF AGAINST THE WALL!"

I jolted, caught off guard—holy fucking hellsgate!—and pressed myself to the wall as excitement crested within me. Tabitha was a blend of innocence and fire. A powderkeg. I wanted to bury myself between her thighs, light that wick, and have her detonate.

This was on. So fucking on!

I wanted her and she wanted me right back!

She set the ladder up right in front of me. It was one of those mini-ladders consisting of two steps in total, and she climbed them so we were almost level. With the ladder's additional height, she stood a little above me, and I had to tip my head back to gaze into her eyes. She liked that too. I could see the flare of delight in her gaze.

"I've read a lot of books about kissing," she said, staring at me between narrowed green eyes as if daring me to argue with her. "A. Lot. Of. Books."

I bet she fucking had. I bet she was the type of girl who got lost in the pages because life was too busy for the real thing. Maybe part of her had been too shy to pursue it with someone real. More than likely, her world of servants had more rules than mine in the upper classes. Obviously, with the display Toolface and whatever-her-name-was had performed a few minutes ago. I mentally tsked him—getting a girl pregnant, shameful, especially with all the contraceptive tonics available from House Simonis. But for one brief, dark moment it reminded me of Gratian and Irma.

Tabitha's voice split apart my bleak thoughts when she said, "Clearly, I've never kissed anyone properly before," accompanied by a disparaging eye roll and a twist of her mouth to the side. Her lips were so tantalizingly close I could scent the strawberry gloss on her plump lips, and I was desperate to taste them. "So no judging or making fun of me," she warned.

"I wouldn't dare," I replied, surprised at how rough and uneven my voice was.

Tabitha shimmied her shoulders and tossed her hair about, the strands of blond shimmering, as if bolstering her courage. I had the distinct impression there was a running inner monologue of her saying—do it, do it, do it—in her head.

She raised an eyebrow, pinned me in place with a sharp look, and emphasized with a raised finger. "Don't move. Don't touch me. Don't do anything...or else I'll change my mind and stop."

As she lifted up her arms, stretching her hands toward my head, a ripping sound cut through the room. She squeezed her eyes shut and her mouth puckered like she'd sucked on a lemon. "My"—a pause—"dress," she groaned.

Sure enough, under her arms, both sleeves had ripped and now there were gaping holes. I huffed a laugh and grinned. "Haute-couture. Own it."

She flashed a quick smile—that broad grin that showed too much teeth and the fuckable dimple.

Fuck!

My heartbeat kicked up a notch and it seemed all the blood flowed to my already swollen cock, which was punching against my pants' zipper. I was embarrassingly close to jizzing in my fucking briefs.

The cool room's temperature had risen several degrees and I wasn't sure why I felt hot and stuffy beneath the collar of my shirt, or why my palms had begun to sweat. I'd kissed girls before. Plenty of them.

Tabitha's hands shook slightly as she ran them across my shoulders, up my bristled jaw to my cheeks. I wished I'd shaved so I could feel them on my skin. Her thick golden lashes were curled around wide eyes, giving her a look of innocence, but there was a shadow of a veil concealing their depth as if she too was hiding something. She stroked her hands through my hair, almost as if she were petting me. Her touch felt so good I wanted to close my eyes and sink into the feeling of contentment. But I didn't. I held her gaze as she stared at me with those big, bright green eyes flecked with gold, the irises ringed with a deep blue. Right this moment I couldn't decide which color they were and finally settled on a deep sea green with rich sunlight gleaming on the gentle swell of rolling waves.