Page 53 of FoolSilver
It came out like shameless flirting. That wasn’t what I’d planned at all.
Caspian’s green eyes glittered. The shifter prince never met a game he didn’t like.
“Get on top of me, and you can have anything you want.”
“A pair of skate shoes would be nice.”
“Those are already yours. Think bigger, sweetheart.”
“I like starting small. Low expectations, high satisfaction.”
“A kiss, then.” He winked.
My breath hitched. I’d been trying to distract him, only had it backfired.
For all the flirting, his grip on my wrists never loosened. I was acutely aware of every place his body pressed against mine—and then of the hardest part of him, unmistakable between my thighs. Lust hit me like a slap. Instant. Inconvenient. My breath went heavy. His wasn’t steady either. A few more seconds under him and I’d drag him down and find out exactly what that mouth tasted like.
Caspian already had half the base swooning. The last thing I needed was to become another notch on his bedpost. Time to go on offense.
“I’m new here, prince,” I said, gazing up at him. “But I’m not deaf to your reputation. They say you’ve slept your way across the whole continent. That you’ll screw anything that moves.” I let that sit, and he stared at me like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Am I just the one freak whose pants you haven’t gotten into yet? Because I’ll be straight with you: you’re wasting your time.”
“What? No.” His jaw flexed. “That’s not—hell, that’s not what you are to me, Max. You have to know that.” Then his eyes burned. “It was Nikolai again, wasn’t it? I can spot a sabotage a mile away.” His voice dropped, hot with rage. “That bloodsucker wraps his petty jealousy in concern and thinks no one’s the wiser.”
From everything I knew of him, Caspian didn’t talk like this. He had to be rattled.
While he was busy defending his good name, fully distracted, I bridged, twisted, and drove my shoulder into the gap his temper had opened.
And then I was straddling him.
“Gotcha.” I smiled down at him, smug. “I’m on top.”
He blinked. “But what you said—” Then his laugh came, bright and helpless. “It was a decoy.”
“Maybe.”
He laughed again, but it strained at the edges as the reality of our position won out over the humor. His hands settled on my hips, loose, not gripping, just resting there, and I could feel, very clearly, exactly how much he was enjoying this. His lips parted, his breath fogging the air between us.
“Max,” he managed, like stringing the words together cost him something, “I’m not the same man I was before you. Let me prove it?—”
“Prove what, exactly, wolf?” Nikolai’s voice came from the doorway, dry as dust. “I’m genuinely curious. Take your time.”
I was off Caspian before my brain caught up with my body. My face went hot.
Nikolai stood in the entrance, hands in his pockets, dark amusement on his face. His hungry gaze landed on me. “The wolf excels at getting females underneath him. Glad to see you came out on top.”
“I’m just learning to wrestle,” I said, which was true, and also the single most beside-the-point thing I’d ever said out loud.
Caspian rolled to his feet in one fluid motion. The warmth was gone, replaced by a flat stare aimed at Nikolai. “Came to ruin my moment again, bloodsucker? Go on then, do your worst. Max and I will rate the performance.”
“You’re being a child, wolf.” Nikolai strolled into the room.
“Why are you even here? This is a private session. I told my security detail?—”
“I know exactly what you told them.” Nikolai studied the weapons wall with mild interest. “I taught Max to move unseen. Did you think I’d teach her a skill I couldn’t pull off myself?”
“Un-fucking-believable, this bloodsucker has zero respect?—”
“That’s two ‘bloodsuckers’ in one conversation,” Nikolai observed.
