Forbidden Honor (Dragon Royals #1)(53)

The way he was looking at me made me self-conscious, and I brushed stray hair off my forehead. His amber eyes were arresting, lit from within as if with flame. It was hard to look away from the hard planes of his face. He was beautiful in a roughly rugged way, as if the dragons were special in every way, even in their human form.

He grabbed my face, cupping my jaw in both his palms and pressed his lips to mine. The kiss was so sudden that it shocked me, and I was stunned all over again by the softness of his lips against mine, underneath the firmness of his mouth.

His grip was gentle on my jaw despite the aggression of the way he’d just grabbed me. I was lost in that touch, then finally surfaced back to sense. The dragon prince was kissing me and I shouldn’t like it—or him—definitely not as much as I did. He should be a conquest, a story, if I had to be his secret.

I put my hands against his hard chest and pushed him away.

“Have you lost your damned mind?” I sputtered, trying to ignore the way heat was flooding my body, pulling between my thighs.

There was something between Jaik and me that felt intense and real. Even if it was just intense real lust.

And maybe I shouldn’t stop him. Maybe I shouldn’t stop myself. He stared at me, a wounded look on his face. Was he wounded because he really cared about me kissing him back? Or was he wounded because it was the first time in his ridiculous life that a woman had ever rejected him?

I don’t care.

I grabbed his shirt, yanking him close to me, and tilted onto my tiptoes to plant my own kiss against his lips. For a second, he resisted, his mouth hard and unyielding, as if he was still mad at me. But I kept kissing him anyway, just as insistent as he had been with me.

His lower lip was soft and plush. Then he grabbed me, his hands stroking up my thighs to settle on my hips. When he yanked my hips against his, his hard length pushed against my thigh.

He kissed me back just as hard, his lips teasing against mine until the tip of his tongue pressed insistently against the seam between my lips.

I pulled away. “I don’t have a lot of kissing experience.” I didn’t want to confess that, but it was better than seeming as if I were just bad at it.

He frowned down at me. “How lacking, exactly, are you in kissing experience?”

I was not about to answer that. I glared up at him.

“So you haven’t been having sex with Lucien?” he mused, sounding pleased.

“No, No, I haven’t. Although I’ve thought about it.” Ever since Talisyn’s hands on my body during the library, I’d thought I could love myself a little more.

He frowned down at me. “What about Caldren?”

“Why are you such a possessive bastard?”

“Well, we all have our things.” He tucked a strand of hair back behind my ear, his touch lingering on my cheek. “And you think I’m cute anyway.”

Thinking that Jaik was cute was like thinking some kind of dangerous, beautiful wild animal was cute. Dragons are many things. Gorgeous, splendid. But definitely not cute.

“I just wanted you to know that I might not be very good at kissing.” I sounded as exasperated as I felt. “I don’t want to talk about it. I just didn’t want you to think I was bad at it, or if I was bad, that I would always be bad...”

“Let me see.” His hand cupped my jaw, and he kissed me again. This time was softer, slower. His lips caressed mine like a test, like yet another dragon game.

My lips parted against his and his tongue stroked confidently into my mouth. The heat of his mouth, the way his tongue danced against mine, reminded me of what it would be like for the other parts of our body to combine, and lust ached between my thighs.

He kissed my lower lip before he straightened. One soft, sweet little kiss. Somehow it was the tenderness that left me most breathless.

“That actually wasn’t as terrible as I would have thought,” he mused.

I’d always known he’d ruin the fun of his body by opening his mouth. “I wasn’t asking you to judge me.”

“Just one of the many services I provide.”

“I shouldn’t have sex with you. You’re only going to make me crazy. And then you’re going to get bored with me.”

“But you don’t care about that anyway,” he said.

“No, I guess I don’t.”

His lips curled up at the corners, and my heart lurched. I’d do anything to turn that faint amusement into a genuine smile.

He tilted my face up to his with one finger, his gaze intent as if he wanted to make sure I truly heard every word. “Honor, I like the way you kiss. And I like kissing you.”

It was so unexpectedly disarming. He must have seen that in my face, because he leaned forward and kissed me again. This time, I felt more confident, and my hands slid up his chest to his shoulders. He rested his hands on top of mine, his fingers curling around mine. I angled my face to his, learning his rhythm, the way he alternated between several soft, shallow kisses and deeper ones, his tongue teasing against mine.

As the two of us traded kisses, he walked me back. I moved with his body, feeling how tall and commanding he was, the way his legs slid between my thighs, his hands confident on my hips as he steered me backward. My shoulder blades hit the wall as his lips plundered mine, his body lighting mine on fire.

I had one more chance to come to my senses. But I didn’t. Maybe I would never come to my senses where Jaik was concerned.