Page 94 of Smuggler's Beauty

Evelyn blinked at him. “Why are you here?”

Okay, maybe that was too blunt.

She gulped the coffee. It was perfect.

He laughed. “Well, dollface, I live here.”

“Okay, why amIhere?”

“Why shouldn’t you be here?” he asked, shifting to study her. Evelyn felt her cheeks heat as she became the sole point of his focus.

“How long did Cairn freak out about his plants?”

“An hour or two. Then Elenor told him to just place an order at his favorite nursery and bill Vinnie. He perked right up,” he said. “Now, why don’t you ask what you really want to know?”

Evelyn thought it was fairly perverse that someone who refused to admit that they routinely committed piracy was so horrifyingly direct in his personal life. She took another steading gulp of her coffee before she met his eyes.

“Don’t you think I’m a monster?” Her voice cracked as she spoke. She blinked rapidly, refusing to give into the tears that threatened to fall.

“Uh, no.” He reached out to smooth her hair behind her ear. “Why, should I?”

“I sort of do,” Evelyn whispered. Her gut churned. Why didn’t he see that she was dangerous? She couldn’t get the image of blood trickling out of his ear out of her head. She was fairly sure it was burned in her memory forever.

Not to mention she’d murdered an entire room of plants in seconds. He should dump her off the ship at the earliest convenient moment. Surely they couldn’t need the money that Vinnie had promised them that badly. They couldn’t be that invested in Tanalian politics.

“Let’s get one thing clear, dollface,” he said, tilting her chin up with his hand, emerald eyes blazing as they met her own. “I have a lot of thoughts about you. You’ve consumed my waking mind since the day we met. I think you’re funny and brave.Lightning smart. You’ve saved my ass twice now. Sexy as hell. You’ve enthralled me. But I have never, not for one minute, been afraid of you.”

“You should be,” she said.

Aiden grinned at her. “I’m really bad at doing what I should do.”

“I could have killed you,” Evelyn switched tacks, determined to ignore the charming smile he’d aimed at her. She would not be distracted.

“Dollface, half the people on this ship have almost killed me at one time or another.”

Evelyn’s eyebrows shot up at that. A flash of protective indignation shot through her. He chuckled and grabbed her hand. She realized she’d closed it into a fist as he brushed his lips against her knuckles.

“The point is, not only did younotkill me, you saved all our lives,” he continued. “So, you pack a hell of a punch. Big deal.”

“Aiden, I’m dangerous.”

And she knew she was far too selfish to keep pushing him away much longer.

She could feel her resolve crumbling. Reality had thrown cold water on her raging desire, but every little caress and smirk he gave was rapidly reigniting the flame.

Taking the coffee cup out of her unclenched hand and putting it down, Aiden shifted closer, his cedar and rosemary scent flooding her senses and chipping away at her common sense. His hand left hers, and she heard the drawer open, a knife and two blasters shooting out to hover next to him. He slid a finger down the hilt of the knife. It began to circle in the air, slowly spiraling ever closer to her side of the bed.

“So am I,” he said. “Still not scared of you.”

Fuck it.

Evelyn’s determination to convince him that she was a danger to be avoided at all costs evaporated. She’d made her opinion perfectly clear. If he didn’t agree, that wasn’t her problem. Her hand flicked up to grasp Aiden’s necktie and yanked, pulling him down for optimum kissing access. The weapons clattered to the floor as his mouth found hers, his hands going to her waist and tugging her closer.

Her other hand wove into his hair, and she pressed her lips to his greedily, demanding. All the want she’d felt for him poured out of her lips, and she was met with equal fervor.

Her hands hurriedly went to any piece of clothing they could find, and it took everything not to rip them off him. Aiden nipped at her lip as she fully loosened his tie, then fumbled with his shirt buttons. She’d be damned if she stopped kissing him before she had to. Aiden was better than air in her lungs. Every nerve in her body zinged with awareness.

She groaned in frustration when he broke their kiss, then arched into him as he started kissing along her jaw and down her neck. When he bit down in the crevice between her neck and shoulder, she gasped, the feeling lighting her afire. His warm hands snaked up under her shirt to cup her breasts, and her nipples pebbled as he worried the spot he’d just bitten with his tongue.