Page 14

The way he said the word made her heart flutter, and the laughter she was trying so hard to contain seemed to drift away from her lungs.

Regaining her composure, Madeleine shook her head, taking a step back.

“Tempting or not, I know my limits as well as my capabilities. It is not just you that I cannot love. It is any man other than those I love in a familial matter. Romance… beingin loveis something I will never do.”

Percy’s face constricted in a way that wrenched something in Madeleine’s heart. “You do not mean it.”

“I do,” she insisted, her feet now firmly planted into the ground. She would not give another inch. She was determined to gain his aid, but she would not allow him to operate under any misconceptions of how their agreement was going to work.

“What has happened to you?” he asked in a tone far too sincere for her liking.

It made her balk immediately, and she took a step back from him.

“I could ask you the same thing,” she retorted. “Or is your supposed curse far too sensitive of a subject for you to discuss?”

Percy’s eyes darkened, all mirth completely gone, and she felt his anger begin to roil off of him. He clenched his hands at his side, unclenched them, then ground his teeth until his jaw ticked.

“For someone who is in need of my assistance, you are not behaving in a way that would induce a person to help you. Most people would have walked away from you after being subjected to your poor manners. It is unkind and beneath you. It is beneath me for that matter. Perhaps I should walk away and find another way to rid me of my own unpleasant association.”

He started to turn away.

“No,” she stepped forward, reaching out to stop him.

Guilt rushed through her. She had gone too far, and she knew it. She laid her hand on his arm then released it just as suddenly.

“Please, I need your help. I am sorry. You are right. I should not have been so unkind. I simply wished to reassure you that my affections would not wander towards you and interfere with our plans.”

He turned his body back towards her, his displeased expression carved deep into his features. They were so close now that they were nearly touching. When she did not back away, he closed the remaining distance between them.

“Prove it,” he whispered into the darkness between them. “Kiss me. If you feel nothing, we will proceed with this charade.”

Madeleine gritted her teeth, biting back an acid retort. Taking a deep breath, she balled her hands into fists to stop them from shaking. She was nervous, but she was not about to show him that. She needed this arrangement more than he did, and he knew it.

“If I do this… then I have your word?” she asked carefully.

Percy nodded, his face still a mask of discontent.

“You do.”

Her heart suddenly beating wildly, Madeleine drew in a breath and leaned up on her toes. Her lips were barely able to reach his jaw, but she brushed a kiss along the carved contours there. She was surprised at how the invisible stubble tickled her lips, and she pressed them tightly together as a slight current came alive in them.

Percy chuckled, the sound condescending, as she lowered herself down to her heels and took a small step back.

“What was that?” he asked, his brow perked.

He was teasing her, and she hated it, but the mocking expression sat better with her than that look of betrayal.

“A kiss,” she breathed, feeling her cheeks flush anew at the confession.

“No, darling,” he murmured, tracing his fingertips up her arms, “Thisis a kiss.”

Percy’s one arm constricted around her waist, pulling her into his body as the hand captured her throat. Immediately, Madeleine felt herself be bathed in his heat, and without a thought as to why, she let her body melt into his as his lips claimed possession of hers. Pleasure spiraled through her as Percy’s demanding lips first melded to hers, and she couldn’t help the small gasp as his tongue slid forward and taught her how to open her lips for him.

“That’s it,” he whispered into her mouth, his voice deep and desperate as his hold on her tightened. “Open up for me, sweetheart.”

Madeleine obeyed, her senses blurred into thick cloud of pleasure and desire around her as Percy slid his tongue over hers and coaxed her to do the same without speaking a word. For a brief moment, the passion was overruled by timidness as she ventured the tip of her tongue into his mouth, but the moment she slid the tip of the soft pink muscle against his, a growl erupted from deep within Percy’s chest.

His hand tightened around her throat even more, and while it stole her breath, it also made a rush of warm moisture—the likes she’d never felt before—release from her lower belly and coat her inner thighs. Giving in to the pleasure of it all, Madeleine let him lead her deeper into the kiss. Her lips opened and closed with his, sealing and parting them around one another with nothought of needed breath as she grew dizzy from the onslaught of delectable sensations.