Trusted by Jacquelyn Frank Page B

women, and it does you credit, but I would have you open yourself to the idea that not all affection is meant to lead to sex between a man and a woman.”
    “Are you saying that is not your eventual goal?”
    He frowned thoughtfully. “I do not really know what my eventual goal is. All I know is…right now I wish to kiss you more than anything I have wanted for quite some time.”
    “Oh,” she said, looking away from him. “Am I to give you your promised kiss then?”
    “Actually, I would like to save that particular promised kiss for a time when you wish to kiss me . This is wholly my desire to kiss you.”
    He drew her a step closer, her skirts swirling around his shins. He touched her face, running warm fingertips over the apple of her cheek before setting her chin into his hand. He tipped her head back and approached her slowly, clearly not wishing to spook her. She found herself growing impatient and realized she wanted this kiss. He wasn’t just going to be taking from her, she was going to be giving.
    He touched his mouth to hers and she felt hiss warm firm lips. It was a very chaste kiss, pressing gently, giving no heat. She found herself frustrated by it. She had thought him to be a man of great passions, and yet here he was giving her a boy’s kiss.
    He drew back and smiled down at her. “Is there a problem?” he asked.
    “Well…no,” she said, sighing. She wasn’t about to be the one to tell him his kiss did not stir her.
    “What has it been? Five minutes and already you are forgetting our pact?”
    “It’s only that…I just thought…there would be more.”
    “To what?” he asked, his eyes glimmering with humor.
    “To a kiss with you!”
    “Ah. So you want more?”
    “I…well…I…” That was when she realized he was purposefully baiting her. He had given her that chaste kiss as a way of drawing out her true desires. “You are a fiend, my king!” she cried.
    “Garrick,” he said, right before he swooped in and arrested her mouth with his. The kiss was instantly hot, full of the heat he had been holding in check in order to tease her, to draw her out. His mouth slanted over hers, and she welcomed him. His fingertips on her chin drew her mouth open and his tongue dipped into her mouth for the first time.
    Fire unfurled within her, shocking her with its intensity. She had shared kisses with other boys, but here was a man’s kiss, the kiss she had been expecting all along. The kiss she had been afraid of. Only now that she was receiving it she did not feel fear as much as she felt heart pounding excitement. His tongue sought hers and she encouraged him shamelessly. She felt his hand tightening at her waist, drawing her into his body. She was aware of hardened muscle and strong male heat radiating into her from head to toe. She felt him pulling her onto her toes, and then completely off her feet altogether as he hugged her tightly to his body.
    Sarea felt her limbs growing heavy and languorous, the points of her nipples hardening as excitement raced over her skin. She had never felt anything like the contrasting sensations before in her life. Her breath came fast and she heard him make a deep, contented sound. A purr. He was purring. She didn’t blame him. She was just shy of purring herself. Then she wasn’t just shy of it any longer. She began to make the sound, the vibrations of it blending in with the ones eddying off of him.
    He drew back from her, his lips wet with their kiss. Hers were too and she licked the honey off of them, savoring the combined flavor of them. Him and her. Her and him. She was shocked to find out how much the idea excited her.
    But no! She shouldn’t be encouraging this! This could only lead to bad things!
    But what could ever be bad about kisses that felt so good? she argued with herself. Confused, she stepped back away from him. He said she was in control, but now she felt even more out of control than ever. Could she trust herself around him?

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