She stood, took another step backward. “We need to pause. Reconsider if--”
“If you run, I’ll find you.” Urian shrugged, as if such threats were casual. “You’re meant for me. I’m certain of it now. I’ll have to change a few of my plans, especially if you want monogamy. Do you? We can figure this out, though. Wewill.Nothing I’ve ever known has been so clear.”
She shook her head again, crossed her arms, and protested, “You don’t know me. At all.”
He gestured toward the lights of the tiny downtown area. “Then join me for a meal. And I will know you.”
“After one meal?” she scoffed.
“After as many meals as it takes to earn more kisses,” he said. “I will romance you, Katherine, until you are as certain as I am. Youaremeant for me, and in time, you will see that.”
“You’re mad,” she whispered. “A kiss and—”
“You changed when you met me. Woke up. You glow now when I touch you, like a beacon. Perhaps that glow is only for me. Perhaps anyone could touch you and bring that moonlight to your skin, but it’s there now.” He stalked closer. “And I am here. Offering myself to you. . . my beautifulgancanaghlocked away in seclusion, filled with fantasies and longing. Tell me the thought of having someone to touch whenever you want doesn’t—”
“Stop,” she whispered. A rush of longing made her tremble.
Hemade her tremble.
She knew better, knew that lust and longing were not love, knew that everything he offered was dangerous. Wanting to learn more about her heritage wasn’t the same as wanting him.
Was it?
Her heritage was a creature out of myth, the equivalent of a succubus. Not merely mortal. Not merely faery either.
Urian held her gaze. “I will not apologize for what we are. You shouldn’t either.”
Katherine took several breaths, trying to argue with her heart and other places more southern and demanding right now. Whatever else Urian was, he wasn’t a “starter model” for a woman with no experience.
But I’m not an ordinary woman.
The glittering in his eyes and the demand in his voice were because he felt the same hunger. He might have experience, but she was far from powerless here. He wanted her just as much as she wanted him. That knowledge hit her like a boost of adrenaline.
“So, romance me, Urian. Maybe you’ll earn at least one more kiss.” Katherine reached out a hand toward him, not waiting but offering.
Urian chuckled and used her hand as leverage to tug her closer. She was chest-to-chest with him.
Katherine looked up and held his gaze as she traced from his waist over his hip with her free hand. When she cupped his ass, Urian’s grip on her hand tightened.
“She likes playing with danger,” he murmured, words feeling like they were tangible against her lips, and she wanted to swallow them.
“Tell me something about you,” she invited.
He turned his head, so his lips were against her throat. Carefully as if she were made of something delicate, he kissed her throat.
She tilted her head, angling to offer him more skin, and he chuckled before continuing to kiss her. A series of small shiver-inducing nips followed.
“He’s a tease,” she finally said.
Urian paused and stepped back, leaving her feeling cold without his touch. “No, love. I simply like to take my time,” he promised. “Teasesdon’t follow through. My kisses are promises.”
Her knees felt weak as he watched her.
“If you’re lucky,” she taunted.
This time he laughed outright. “I intend to be very lucky, so I suppose I’d better get on with the romancing. . .”
The tension felt lighter now, not that her desires had vanished, but as she stood with him, she realized that it was not just about touch. What she wanted was more. Romance. Ridiculous gestures. Chasing. She’d always thought of the sort of faery she was as about lust and sex. She’d reduced it to that, but now that she was hand-in-hand with Urian, she realized for perhaps the first time, that the translation of the faery into mortal explanation was limited. She wanted to charm him, seduce him, enthrall him, and she wanted to show him that the world was better because she was there. That was what agancanaghwas. Not simple lust.