WARPED VANITY ( BL)

CHAPTER 11

  I smiled. “So are you.”

  His lips pressed against mine. I hadn’t expected it. Almost kisses, like threats ghosting over my skin, had been his tactic ... until now. This wasn’t a ghost touch. It was substantial, and yet it felt like the promise of a kiss, a threat of what lay ahead. Stunned by vegas action, I held his gaze. Finally, I ripped away and raised my palm to slap him, but he caught my wrist. He jerked me closer once more.

  “That’s the kiss Danilo would have given you in church, and maybe even later on your wedding night. Polite. Controlled. Reverent.” His voice dipped low. “That’s not a kiss.”

  Anger surged through me. “You—”

  vegas mouth crashed down on mine, fingers bruising my hip as his other hand cradled my wrist between our bodies. His lips conquered mine, his tongue tasting the seam of my mouth, sucking at my tender lower lip, demanding entrance. Heat flushed through me, and my lips parted slightly. Barely. A flicker of submission and vegas plunged his tongue into my mouth, tasting me, consuming me. His taste was intoxicating, his body’s heat overpowering. His thumb pressed into my wrist, his palm sliding from my hip to my lower back. Small sparks of electricity followed in his touch’s wake.

  My head swimming, I was unable to pull back, unable to move at all. Finally, vegas let me free. I sucked in a desperate breath, lightheaded, confused, my body tingling from head to toe.

  vegas exhaled. “That, Angel, was a kiss. It’s the only kind of kiss you’ll ever get from me, and it’s the kiss you’ll use to measure every kiss that follows.”

  I stumbled away from vegas, shaking. “What have you done?” I stammered. I pressed shaking fingers to my lips, horror striking down on me like lightning. That was supposed to be Danilo’s privilege. My first kiss.

  vegas had taken it.

  No.

  I had given it away.

  vegas shook his head, glowering. “I cut you with my blade and you didn’t shed a single tear, but a kiss makes you cry?”

  I turned away, trying to get a grip on my emotions. All my life I had been raised to be the perfect husband, to gift myself to my husband. And just like that I’d allowed vegas to plunder part of my gift. For a moment, I felt like bawling. Then I felt vegas warmth against my back, not touching but lingering between us.

  “Are you scared of Danilo’s wrath if he finds out his angel hides a few black feathers beneath the glowing white of her plumage?”

  I glanced over my shoulder at his striking face. “You don’t know anything about Danilo or me.”

  “I know your weakness, and I know his.”

  I faced him once more. “You, too, have a weakness, and one day your enemies are going to use it against you with the same cruelty you bestow upon them.”

  “Maybe,” he growled. “Maybe they’ll rise after I’ve burned down their pride, but not everyone is built to rise from the ashes.”

  I scoffed. “You sound like a martyr. What do you know about burning?”

  vegas didn’t say anything, only looked at me with cruel intention, the same expression I’d seen when he’d cut me.

  My eyes darted down to the wound on my arm, and vegas gaze followed. Brick after brick, I was tearing down a wall vegas had no intention of lowering.

  vegas grabbed my arm and led me back toward the mansion. I didn’t say anything, didn’t even look his way. I knew when to retreat, knew when to give in, because this battle had only just begun.