Sweet Peril (The Sweet Trilogy #2)(66)

He pulled away and narrowed his eyes. “Me?”

“It’s my turn to watch you cook.”

That earned me a very sexy half grin.

“Special brownies?” he asked.

My heart flipped. “Don’t even joke.” I lightly punched his stomach, which I shouldn’t have because my senses were still fluttering around on a tightrope and his abs were a mass of yummy.

“I assume you actually want to be able to eat these brownies?”

Taking his hand again, I walked us down the hall. If Marna and Ginger could learn their way around a kitchen, so could Kai. “It’s a box mix. You can’t mess it up. I’ll supervise.”

I climbed up on the counter, bare feet dangling. The surface felt cool on the backs of my thighs.

“Here you go,” I said, handing him the box next to me.

He sighed and read the directions, letting me teach him how to set the oven. He smashed the egg in his man hands, but we picked out the pieces of shell. I clapped when the brownies went in the oven and he set the timer.

He leaned against the stove. I could tell he was still feeling bad about what had happened, and I didn’t want that. I was still a little freaked out, too, mostly about the fear of the hilt, but I didn’t want it to put a damper on our whole night together.

“The best part of cleanup is the bowl,” I told him.

I swept a finger inside the bowl and licked the batter off. Kaidan contemplated the gooey mixture a moment before doing the same. Soon we were in a battle for batter, elbowing each other out of the way and laughing. I distracted him with a wet fingertip in his ear and got the last bit of chocolate.

“Urgh, you play nasty!” he complained, wiping out his ear with the sleeve of his T-shirt.

I was giggling hard by this point. Sometime during our battle, he’d ended up between my knees. My sitting on the counter put us at eye level. I tried to scoot back a little, but he put both hands on top of my thighs to stop me.

“It’s okay,” he told me. “I’m in control right now.”

Right now.

My fingers curled around the edge of the counter to steady myself as he brought his hands to my face, running a fingertip down the slope of my nose and around the curve of my chin, sliding back up to pet the freckle above my lip. His attention made me feel gorgeous and alive.

“You’ve no clue what you do to me, Anna.”

Oh, I think I have an idea.

I’m not sure who moved forward first but it didn’t matter. What mattered was the complete softness of how our lips met. I could feel his tentativeness, and how he held back.

“It’s okay, Kai,” I whispered. “We’ll be careful.”

“I won’t let it go that far again,” he promised.

General disappointment settled inside my heart for all that we couldn’t have, but I nodded.

I scooted forward until our chests pressed together, wrapping my arms around his neck while his went around my back. We took our time, playfully spoiling each other’s lips with tenderness. And then I ran my tongue along his bottom lip, nipping him, just as he’d done to me on the Ferris wheel. This was met by a satisfying growl from the back of his throat as his mouth captured mine, kissing me so deeply that all thought disappeared and only sensation lived.

His grip tightened and he lifted me from the counter, forcing my legs to wrap around his waist and link behind his back.

“We’ll be careful,” he said, repeating what I’d told him.

“Yes,” I agreed against his mouth.

Our lips never parted as he walked us to the bedroom and laid us on the bed.

We kissed, rolling around with our limbs entwined, touching as much as we could possibly get away with. A glorious energy poured forth between us. I lost all track of time and the outside world.

People often referred to life in oceanic terms: a sea of possibility, plenty of fish in the sea. But it wasn’t that way for Nephilim. We were like fish kept in nets, expected to do the bidding of sharks or be eaten by them. The sea held no possibility for us. But here and now we found ourselves in a private tank without a shark in sight. It was tiny and temporary. We were buoyant.

When we stopped to breathe and look at each other, I giggled.

“Your hair,” I said. It was sticking up everywhere. I worked through it with my fingers, while he smiled down on me. “I love you,” I whispered.

He closed his eyes and pressed another silken kiss to my lips. As long as he kept kissing me like that, no words would be necessary.

We propped ourselves on our sides facing each other. One of my knees rested between his. I ran a hand through my own hair, which had become a nest in the back.

“Is this kind of . . . boring for you?” I asked him, feeling self-conscious.

“What?” His hand that was resting on my hip tensed. He almost looked offended.

I brushed imaginary lint from his shoulder. “I mean, you know, just kissing.”

“This is better than anything I’ve ever done.” His voice was soft and sincere. He pushed the long bangs from my eyes. “Besides, have you ever snogged yourself, luv? It’s brilliant.”

I laughed, hiding my face in his neck, and he chuckled, too.

“Why?” he asked, playing with my hair. “Are you bored? Seeing as how you’ve kissed so many lads now and all?”