Fantastical (Fantasyland #3)(13)

“I could kiss you the way you’d like it but I’m not going to,” I returned.

“Drivel,” he muttered.

“I could!” I snapped.

“Not a prayer in this world,” he retorted.

What a jerk!

“Why do you even want me to kiss you? You don’t even like me.” I reminded him.

“Because, my love, I’m a man and most of your soft body has been pressed to me all night, the rest of it wrapped around me. That happens to a man no matter whose body it is.”

“Nice,” I hissed. “Just the words any girl wants to hear.”

“They’re true.”

“I’ll give you that. Now let me go,” I demanded.

He let me go and started to slide out from under me when I did it. I don’t know why, maybe because I was sick of having a bad rap due to the Cora of this world being a screaming bitch.

What matters was, I did.

And I shouldn’t have.

I really shouldn’t have.

I lifted a hand to his cheek, moved his head to facing me and I went in for the kill.

And I didn’t start small. I pulled out all the stops and went all out. I pressed tight to him, my fingers slid into the thick, soft hair at the side of his head, I pressed my lips to his, opened my mouth over his and when his opened under mine, my tongue darted in and Lordy, but he tasted good.

Sublime.

Yum!

That was when I really went all out, pushing close and giving it my all.

He took it and with a groan his arms closed around me, he rolled me to my back, his big body on mine and he took over.

Oh man, this was better. Way better.

He was a jerk but, damn, the man could kiss.

My fingers slid through his hair to cup the back of his head and my other arm curved around his muscled back just as my leg forced its way out from under him and wrapped around his hip.

He tasted good, he felt good on me, his body so warm and solid and he could kiss.

Amazing.

He tore his mouth from mine and lifted his head an inch. I opened my eyes to see his glittering with a new light as they blazed into mine and I felt his heavy breath mingling with my own.

Jeez, he was hot and he was even hotter looking turned on.

“Gods,” he murmured with feeling.

He had that right.

“Bloody hell,” he went on.

He had that right too.

His eyes roamed my face and I wished they wouldn’t mainly because I was hoping he’d kiss me again.

He didn’t.

Instead, his eyes turned to stone and he whispered, “Conniver.”

I blinked and my skin went cold.

“Cunning little schemer,” he kept at it and for some reason I suddenly felt like crying.

“Get off me,” I whispered.

“You’ll do anything, won’t you, Cora?” he asked.

“Please,” I said softly, “get off me.”

“You’d given me that, even a hint of it on our wedding night, my love, I would have given you a better house.”

Seeing as the house he gave me belonged in a fairytale, I couldn’t imagine what would be better but I didn’t share that mainly because I was concentrating on my stomach muscles contracting because it felt like he’d punched me in the gut.

Then I shoved at his shoulders, bucked and shrieked, “Get the f**k off me, you ass**le!”

He shifted just enough for me to slide out from under him and gain my feet. I took several hasty steps away then whirled to face him, my mind searching for a stunning set down and finding nothing when I saw him on his side, the hides to his waist, up on a forearm, his magnificent chest on display, his black hair tousled from sleep and his eyes on me.

Damn, he was sexy as all hell and I wished he was ugly as well as a jerk.

“Have I mentioned I hated you this morning?” I asked spitefully.

He grinned.

Grinned!

Jerk!

“Actually, yes,” he answered.

“Good, I don’t want you to forget,” I returned.

“Oh, I won’t forget.”

“Excellent.”

“Though,” he started, shoving the hides aside and moving lithely to his feet, “you don’t want rabbit for your next meal, you pay the price.”

Oh no.

This didn’t sound good.

“What?” I asked.

“You don’t like rabbit,” he reminded me.

It wasn’t that I didn’t like it. It was that, even tasty, I couldn’t stop myself from thinking it was gross because I liked bunnies.

“No,” I said cautiously as he crossed his arms on his chest.

“You don’t want rabbit, love, then you earn something you want.”

This definitely didn’t sound good.

“Perhaps you’ll explain,” I suggested though, truth be told, I didn’t want him to explain.

He did as I suggested. “A kiss for a meal.”

Uh-oh.

“I –”

“You want anything else, like clothes, you’ll need to get creative.”

Uh-oh!

“Noctorno –”

He leaned forward slightly but ominously. “I’m certain you can be creative, can’t you, Cora?”