She had a mad desire to press herself against his thigh, but she lost even that thought when he deepened the kiss. Gently. Almost tenderly. Still, his mouth was pure fire and she was drowning in him. With him. She hadn’t known a woman could feel this way. She just gave herself up to him. Let him take her over, needing his mouth and the taste of him and the burn that just kept threatening to spin out of control.
He lifted his head and stared down into her eyes. She knew she looked dazed and confused because she was dazed and confused. She wasn’t even certain she knew her own name. She blinked rapidly to try to bring herself out from under his spell. She shook her head and touched her lips.
“Are you all right?” His voice was gentle. Sweet. Sexy.
No, she wasn’t all right. Hell, no, she wasn’t all right. Was he crazy? She heaved a sigh. “Clearly I’m not in my right mind. I don’t kiss strangers.”
“It was a good kiss.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “It was more than a good kiss. It’s official. You’re the best kisser in the world and therefore we can never—and, Andre, I mean never—do that again.”
His eyebrow shot up. “If it was a good kiss, why would you not want to repeat the experience?”
“My hand is already melted to your side. Do you want my entire body melted into yours? Because, let me explain this so you understand. It could happen.” She stared up into his incredibly blue, so sexy eyes, willing him to comprehend the graveness of the situation. “Seriously. You could walk around to the end of your days with me just stuck to you.”
Faint amusement crept back into his eyes. She didn’t like how much she loved seeing it there.
“Normally, I’m really intelligent. I am. But you’ve short-circuited my brain and fried a few necessary cells. I can’t think clearly around you. So no more kissing.” She tried to sound decisive. Really firm. She didn’t sound that way at all, not even to her own ears. “On top of being gorgeous, did you have to be a world-class kisser?”
Yep. She blurted that one right out there, too. Of course. Because no matter how much she tried, she couldn’t stop her mouth from talking. She even pressed her lips together and seriously—really—she had to remove her hand from his side. Unfortunately, she was afraid if she did, she might just put her lips there.
She groaned. Out. Loud.
He smiled and smoothed back her hair, his thumb sliding lower, over her pulse. His gaze dropped to her mouth. “I think there will be many kisses in our future.”
“Really?” She sounded more hopeful than shocked like she wanted to sound.
“Yes. Really. I think kissing you is a must. I like the taste of you. It would be impossible for me to kiss you just once. One taste and already you are an addiction.”
She shook her head. “I get that you could be an addiction for me, but I don’t know how to kiss. I’ve never done it before. You’re the first. And the only. So see, I just don’t have enough experience for the kind of world-class kissing that you do. You’re so far out of my league it isn’t funny.”
Oh, lord. Her runaway mouth struck again. She just had to get the “world-class” in there twice so he couldn’t possibly miss it. And admit she had never kissed anyone. That was just great. Now she looked pathetic and desperate. What had Armend called her? A pity . . .
“Stop.” Andre growled the command in a low, almost snarling voice.
His eyes glittered and began to fill all that ice with a dark midnight blue color. Turbulent storms swirled through the blue. It was fascinating and scary at the same time.
His fist tightened in her hair. “Do not even think about that man and the disgusting things he said to you. He wanted you. You refused, and he said things to hurt you. To make you think less of yourself. I will not have avio päläfertiilam thinking anything but that you are beautiful.”
Teagan had no idea what avio päläfertiilam meant, but he definitely was referring to her and she could tell he meant every word. She had no idea why she knew he was so sincere, but for some reason, this gorgeous man really thought she was beautiful. It didn’t make sense. Maybe his eyes shone in the dark because he was blind.
“Did I make myself clear?”
She swallowed. He could be scary even when he seemed to be defending her. “Very clear. Thank you. But you have to stop reading my mind.” Oh. Lord. He was reading her mind again. She really had to control all her thoughts. That was not going to be easy. “Please do me a favor and remove my hand from where it’s all melted into your side. I need to get a handle on this and touching you isn’t helping.”
“I can do that for you, but first, I really have to kiss you again.” He made it a statement.
“You do?” Who was she to stop him if he really had to kiss her? There was a difference between want and having to do something, right?
She watched as his head bent slowly to hers. Her tummy did the roller coaster and a million bird wings all at once. Her heart forgot all about following the steady beat of his and began racing overtime. His lips brushed caresses over hers, and she was fairly certain the only thing holding her up was the hand in her hair and the arm locked around her back.
If she wanted to survive she needed to stop him. But really? Was survival all that important? His tongue touched her lips and the bottom dropped out of her stomach. No. Survival was one of those things people talked about that really wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Not when a world-class kisser was taking his time with you.