Total pages in book: 16
Estimated words: 13969 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 70(@200wpm)___ 56(@250wpm)___ 47(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 13969 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 70(@200wpm)___ 56(@250wpm)___ 47(@300wpm)
He felt suddenly and disorientingly ashamed of their experience in the bedroom inside that hovel of a brownstone. The sex had been transcendent, but it was still only rutting against a wall like animals. He would have liked to have peeled her clothing away an article at a time and laid her bare, sipping lazily at her amber glow as he pleasured her for hour upon hour. For a moment, Brigan imagined taking her in a bed, slow and patient and teasing. He imagined watching her sleep, feeling her wake up in his arms.
He inhaled sharply, pulling himself away from the fantasy. “Understand what, Catalina?”
If he were to be honest with himself, he wanted to understand too. Wanted to know why he was so deeply drawn to this human if she wasn’t the curse breaker—and how could she be if she didn’t see what he needed her to see? After all, Brigan knew Catalina would have said something if she saw him fully. She wouldn’t be able to resist remarking upon it.
So, what was this, then? Just another one of the sorceress’s twists of the knife, making him want connection with someone who couldn’t break the curse, who would still grow old and die in a blink of his eye?
“There’s—there’s something different about you,” she said.
He fought a grin despite himself. “I’d hope so.”
She searched his eyes. “What are you?”
Brigan stilled. Not who, but what.
He rocked back on his heels, swallowing his shock, and raised an eyebrow. “That’s an odd question, Catalina.”
“But the right one,” she said steadily.
He felt his nostrils flare but tucked away any other reaction to this.
“We barely know each other,” she continued. “But did it feel like sex with a stranger to you?”
Brigan swallowed, hating that the truth slipped so easily free: “No, it did not.”
“How did you know how to make me . . . ?”
“Orgasm?” he said, low and quiet.
Her cheeks darkened. “Yes. So fast. So many times.”
“You were delightfully vocal in communicating your needs.”
“It’s different,” she said. “You’re different. No man has ever paid attention to what I want the way you have.”
“A shame, Catalina.”
“Yes, but it’s more than that. You paid attention, but it was almost as if you . . .” She exhaled a confused breath. “You got into my head.”
He tried to laugh this off. “You’re suggesting I’m a mind reader?”
“Don’t pretend like you don’t know what I mean.”
Brigan pulled in a deep breath, but it was a mistake: He could smell his sex on her above her soft, sugared perfume, and it made his blood heat all over again. Feigning boredom, he murmured, “This conversation is a little pointless, isn’t it?”
Except it wasn’t, not at all.
She lifted her chin. “I’m not leaving until you tell me what you are.”
Chapter Five
Cat shivered on the stoop. Behind her, the party roared loud enough to be heard through the thick oak door, the laughter and music an odd contrast to the intensity of her eye contact with Brigan.
“You’re cold,” he noted, voice low.
She barely noticed and waved this off. “It’s fine.”
His dark eyes lost their glimmer, and his words took on a protective growl when he murmured, “It isn’t fine.”
“Then tell me what you are, and I’ll go back inside.”
“Back inside to that blockhead ex-boyfriend?”
A tiny thrill wormed through her at the flash of his jealousy. “I just had multi-orgasmic sex with you,” she said, shaking her head in exasperation. “I’m not going to go back in there to the worst lay of my life.”
Brigan seemed to fight the laugh, but it lit his eyes, crinkling the corners, and something eased in her chest.
He blew out a breath. “Catalina, you’ll forget about me.”
“Wow, thank you.” She exhaled a sarcastic laugh.
“It’s better that way.”
“For who?”
“For you, of course. I’m not what you want or need, believe me.”
“What I want or need is my call, not yours.”
“You are stubborn, little lamb.”
“Maybe so, but you’re the one who criticized Jake for leaving me as soon as we got to the party, and now that you’ve fucked me, you’re going to leave me alone on the doorstep?”
Brigan fell silent at this, his expression blanking. He looked to the side, his profile sharp and perfect in the streetlight, jaw tight. It was several long seconds before he inhaled and then blew out a long breath as if he was finally, exhaustedly, giving in to something. He turned back to her. “All right, then. Do you fancy a pint?”
Confusion wiped the scowl from her face. “What?”
“You’re cold, and I’d rather not linger out here on the street. Let’s walk to the small pub on the corner. I’ll buy you a pint. And I’ll promise to answer five questions if you’ll promise to leave me alone afterwards.”
“If I promise to leave you alone, I can ask you anything and you’ll answer?”