Page 42 of Magical Moonbeam

He tilted his head, just slightly, and his voice wrapped around me like the flicker of firelight.

“That kiss.”

My stomach flipped.

He smiled. “You are, aren’t you?”

I narrowed my eyes, trying to salvage a shred of dignity. “What kiss?”

Keegan’s laughter wrapped around me. “It’s been top of mind, huh?”

“You don’tknowthat.”

“I don’t need to.” His grin turned wolfish. “I can see it.”

I scoffed and turned away, pretending to fuss with the teacups that someone, probably Stella, had left in a perfectly staged arrangement on the sideboard.

“That’s a bold assumption.”

“It’s not an assumption,” he said, now so close behind me I could feel the warmth of him at my back. “It’s a memory. And one I’ve been replaying a little too often since it happened. Call it shifter instinct.”

My fingers stilled on the cup.

“And I’d kiss you again,” he added, his voice dipping low enough to send a shiver down my spine, “if I didn’t think you'd immediately follow it with a lecture about timing, responsibility, and very complicated goblin diplomacy.”

I turned then, too quickly, and found myself inches from him.

His grin widened, but his eyes, those beautiful, stormy eyes, were soft.

Steady.

I hated how much I wanted to close the space between us. How much Ididn’twant to be the reasonable one right now.

Instead, I smiled up at him, holding his gaze. “You’re not wrong.”

“I usually am when it comes to you,” he said.

And that—that was unfair. My heart did a foolish little flutter, and I almost forgot every reason I had for keeping things from slipping too fast.

Almost.

But before either of us could move, before I could be brave or ridiculous or both…

A sharp knock sounded at the door.

I jumped.

Keegan sighed.

We both stared at the door for a beat.

“Let me guess,” he murmured. “Skonk again?”

“If he tied up Twobble, I swear—”

But when I opened the door, it wasn’t a goblin standing there.

It was Lady Limora.