Page 60 of His Darkest Desire
“I bound them to myself to spare them from her wrath, lest they perish with all the rest. Had I known they would become prisoners because of it, I…”
Her chest constricted. The pain and guilt he must’ve carried all this time… “You would have done the same to save them.”
A small crease formed between his eyebrows as he regarded her. “You speak with such certainty, Kinsley.”
Kinsley shrugged. “I might not understand what they say, but they are loyal to you. They care for you. So you can’t be all that evil.”
“Have you not considered that their loyalty may be a result of the binding?”
She arched a brow. “I don’t recall being compelled to obey despite being bound to you. I’ve done quite the opposite, in fact.”
The corner of his mouth quirked. “You have indeed. Yet our connection is different.”
“How so?”
“You shall discover that in time, Kinsley.”
The gleam in his eyes was full of wicked promise, and it stirred something deep within her.
“As for now”—he turned to face her fully, curling a leg atop the tub’s rim—“I should like to discover more of you.”
Kinsley narrowed her eyes at him. “I hope you don’t mean that the way it came out. What about your no touching promise?”
“More about you,” he replied flatly.
She knew he was avoiding more of her questions, knew he’d left so much unsaid, but she could be patient.
Kinsley cocked her head and tapped a finger on her arm. “So you want to know more about a lowly mortal?”
“My only other sources of conversation are the wisps, and we’ve naught new to discuss but you. So yes, human. I wish to know more about you.”
“Annnnnd this couldn’t have waited until after my bath?”
Bracing a hand on the edge of the tub, he leaned closer, dancing the fingers of his other hand toward her across the surface of the water. “Are you not warm? Comfortable? Suitably relaxed?”
“Warm, yes. And absolutely vulnerable, while you’re”—she waved a hand toward him without uncovering herself—“fully dressed and in power.”
“I shall remove my clothing and join you, if you’d prefer.”
“No! No, that’s okay. You just…sit right there.”
Vex grinned, showing his fangs. “As you’d like.”
Kinsley stared at his mouth. Why were those fangs so captivating? She should’ve feared them, should’ve been alarmed by the thought of them sinking into her flesh…
But the only mental image she could conjure was of those fangs grazing her skin, setting her every nerve alight with a dark thrill, and awakening a forbidden desire that she’d be helpless to resist.
“So…what do you want to know?” she asked, squeezing her thighs together against the sudden, aching heat pooling between them.
“Everything.”
She chuckled. “Maybe you can narrow that down a little? At least while I’m naked in the tub.”
“Are you of noble blood?”
“What kind of first question is that?”
He held his palm up. “Your conveyance—your car—is wrought of metal, and I am told it needed neither wind nor beast to carry it. That suggests you are a human of some means.”