Arranged: An Array Series (Book #1)(42)

“Are you trying to make me blush, Avie?” He gripped my hips as I tried to focus on my idea.





“No.” I took a deep breath. “I’m just opening your mind to other ideas.”





“Such as whores and women who are—”





I blushed. “You don’t have to explain to me what they are. I’m not that sheltered.”





His hands moved to my lower back. “Never thought you were. What’s this plan?”





I swallowed. “Well…men have their needs. And by employing ladies of that position, you might be able to—”





“And what needs are those?”





“Are you trying to make me blush now?” I scolded.





Garrett grinned, biting his lower lip. “No gentleman makes a female blush on purpose.” His voice was laced in such tantalizing humor, he was probably enjoying my cheeks turn red every other sentence.





I rolled my eyes. “Am I in the midst of a gentleman? I don’t see one.” I looked through the crowd to make my point.





Garrett cupped my face with one hand, bringing it closer to his. “I guess not.”





With no hesitation, his lips found mine. The initial shock threw me, my body warming to the feel of him taking what he wanted. His lips were soft, and as he drank in our kiss slowly and gently, one of his arms tightened around me while the other brushed back strands of hair from my face. His fingers laced between the strands, settling on the back of my head, while a silky groan mingled between us. My legs felt numb when his mouth left mine for a brief moment, his head tilting to the other side, as he deepened the kiss.





My hands clutched his shoulders, as I stood on my toes, wanting more. His tongue caressing mine nearly made me collapse, his frame my only anchor to keep me from falling. My body was on fire; a passionate, wanting heat that I’d never experienced before. Violin strings quickened into the next dance set, and he broke the kiss.





His eyes glazed over, as if to devour me whole. Bringing his hands down the sides of my arms, he laced his fingers with mine. His shoulders rose and fell, his breathing heavy. “Are you trying to kill me?”





My mouth agape, I tried to catch my air supply, like a fish out of water. I gave a weak grin. “I may or may not be the assassin terrorizing the country.”





He shook his head, looking at my swollen lips. “My Femme Fatale, I surrender wholeheartedly.”





“I wouldn’t think you’d give up so easily.”





“That was before I got to kiss the intoxicating Miss Avie Barlow,” he murmured. He squeezed my hands and brought one up to his lips. It was the softness of his eyes that made my heart skip out of his normal rhythm, which made the moment inaudible to everything around me.





“Am I making you uncomfortable?” Garrett asked, a frown manifesting on his face.





I shook my head. “Of course not.”





“I know this is all new and—”





“Kissing?”





Garrett shifted his weight to his other foot. “Well, kissing and my—” I chuckled. How inexperienced did he think I was? “What?” he asked.





“I assure you that I’ve been pecked in my lifetime.” His grip on my hand tightened.





“I just assumed, with your time at the orphanage, you’d not experienced certain…” He paused, then his face hardened. “Those soldiers didn’t try any—”





My hand flew to my chest. “No! No. My goodness…no.”





His brows creased as though he was getting angry. “You’re a striking young woman, Avie. Men tend to take advantage of women who are young and away from safety.”





“I can take care of myself.”





Garrett’s face softened. His calloused hand stroked my cheek before cupping my chin. “You’d tell me, right?”





Without any doubt, I nodded. In this moment, I’d tell him anything he asked. Leaning forward, his skin brushed my cheek as he whispered, “I’m going to be the one who’ll wipe all those kisses from your mind.”





He already had, and I was eating out of the palm of his hand. I took a step back, needing to gain some self-restraint. The pull from him was too strong. It had the means to change me, revise any plans I made for my future, and falling for Garrett Cranfield wasn’t part of it. I wasn’t an expert at men, but I’d seen women fall from their overpowering need for a man. It wasn’t that I cared about the gossips; it was because I was scared of losing my heart, body, and soul to a man who knew how to make me weak with one touch.