Page 41 of Bishop's Queen

No tears!But they welled. “Ishouldn’t have done that, and you shouldn’t have offered what you just did.”

He didn’t respond.

“I won’t do that again. I swear.”Please don’t leave.She hadn’t told a soul she was scared and didn’t want to trust anyone else with that.

His eyes were unreadable, and his jaw flexed. The sinew in his neck showed when he turned away, and her heart sank. Bishop reached for his water and took a long drink. “Your falafel are cold.”

“I don’t think it matters,” she whispered.

He grabbed a bite from the ignored plate. “Not quite beef jerky level of delicious, but it’ll make do.”

She buried her face in her hand. “You’re trying to make me feel better.”

“Ease up. Here. Wait.”

She unburied her face and watched him slug back the rest of his water. “What?”

With a hand on her cheek, he pushed a strand of rogue hair back into place and dipped his head to hers. Bishop pressed his mouth to hers, kissing her, giving her a tease of what had happened before, enough to steal her breath and show her who was in charge.

His hand cupped the back of her head, tilting it where he wanted. Then, just as startling and perfunctory as it started, he ended the kiss. “Now we’re even.”

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