Page 41 of Dravin

I drag in a breath and concentrate on that before my body can respond toherresponse.

“Hold onto that.”

She passes me the fruit and skips back into the kitchen. She returns carrying a wicked looking carving knife that has no business cutting one of these. She passes it to me and I’m only too glad to take it and get it away from her.

I hold the fruit in one hand, the knife in the other.

She flounces across the room and flops down on the couch, pulling the canvas into her lap.

“I’m going to get you to cut it soon.” She crosses her legs under the large canvas.

Her hand searches out a tube of paint and she squeezes some black and then some gray, and a big dollop of dark red right onto the canvas. I try very hard to keep my jaw from unlatching and hitting the floor. Fuck me, that’s unorthodox and so damn hot. Her easy command of her craft is ridiculously sexy, aside from the way the t-shirt drapes over her, leaving one shoulder bare, or the way the sun hits her face, highlighting her hair, her full lips, her long lashes, the perfection of her skin.

“How do you… want me to stand?” I ask.

She doesn’t look up. It’s a small mercy that she can’t see how uncomposed I am right now. I grind my teeth together, but that just makes the insane teeth caps dig into my gums. She gave me a few days to get everything together, and I had to rush order them offline. They have a distinctly disgusting taste, I have to say.

“I want you to angle to the side but have your chest also facing me. You’ll have to twist a little and it won’t be comfortable, but I’ll work fast and you won’t have to hold that pose for long. Hold the pomegranate up in front of you like those paintings where that dude is pondering the skull and hold the knife down by your leg.” I arrange myself as she instructed. Her little squeal and the adorable shuffle of her bare feet along the floor is more than reward enough. “Yes! Ahh, I love it. Okay. Just stay right like that.”

“Would it not be easier to take a photograph?” I ask.

I instantly regret my words when I see the scowl flash across her face. “Yes, if I wanted to capture a moment. But I want to captureyou. I’ll take some reference photos, but I need to get the basics down. Okay?”

She’s right. The pose isn’t comfortable, but that’s more than okay. After a few seconds, I’m not thinking about discomfort. I’m not thinking about me at all. I’m utterly transfixed as I watch her work.

I’m maybe a little too consumed with it. I drop my guard, something I’m only notorious for doing around Kael when that’s the absolute worst time to do it and miss when she says something.

I jerk my head up as soon as her brush pauses on the canvas. She’s patient though, repeating herself. “I said, do you know how to cut it?”

I nod, then proceed to absolutely butcher the thing. Juice runs down my hands as I set the knife down and pry it apart.

Kael laughs wickedly on the couch, kicking her feet a little. She’s utterly adorable. “That was the best thing I’ve ever seen. You’re all yes, and then you just go straight in and hack it apart.”

“In my defense…” I scoop up a fingerful of seeds. “It worked.”

“Put a handful in your mouth.”

“A handful or a few?”

She unfurls from the couch and walks over, quietly, like a predatory cat. She hasn’t adjusted her t-shirt. I can’t stop staring at her shoulder peeking through. Her collarbones are on display, delicate and lovely. My mouth waters when I think about latching my mouth there and tasting her, kissing my way up her neck to her sweet lips.

I’d have a mouth full of pomegranate seeds. If she wanted to taste them, I’d be happy to oblige.

Maybe she knows exactly what’s in my head. Her eyes are golden with sunlight. She moves with a lithe grace, her teeth worrying her bottom lip, her concentration fixed on one thing only.Me.

She’s going to pose me or show me what she wants.

I focus on that thought and it stops me from moving away out of that direct line of intensity. I have great reflexes, a gutinstinct that I’ve pretty much always been able to trust, and a sixth sense for danger developed over years of putting myself straight in the line of fire. It all fails me.

Kael dips her fingers into the fruit. It hits me what she’s going to do, but I can’t save myself and I can’t save her. She lifts her hand and feeds me those seeds. Not gently, but it’s the surprise of the action that causes my lips to part, not force. Saliva jets at the back of my mouth as the tart, rich fruit hits my tongue. I think that’s the end of her surprises, but I should know better.

This is Kael.

Nothing she does is expected.

She grabs the lapels of my shirt and falls into me, jerking my head down with her free hand while she sticks her fingers further into my mouth. She removes them quickly when she has herself in place. She fuses her lips to mine, kissing me almost brutally, her tongue parting my lips. I swallow so I don’t choke, though fuck me, I’m close to doing that anyway, becausewhat the fuck?

“Mmm,” she hums, tasting the lingering juice on my tongue. “Maybe I get it now. Why people don’t just buy the juice. The real thing is much more fun and far more delicious.”

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