Page 53 of The Mech Who Loved Me
"Jealous," she said carefully, though the word sounded ridiculous in her mouth. Liam Kincaid jealous?Overher?
Kincaid's lips thinned, and he looked around. She barely noticed the opening of an alley beside them, before he dragged her into it, his broad body shielding her from street view. "Of course I'm jealous." His hands gripped her shoulders, the look in his eyes naked with unrestrained need. "I want you. And while I'm willing to wait until you're ready, I'm also very aware we made a deal, and I want to fulfill it. I can be patient, Ava, but there's a limit to my patience, and that limit is reached when other men try tocharmyou."
He captured her chin, one thumb pressing into her lower lip. "You're mine, Ava. Nothis.Mine."
Their lips met, and Ava threw her arms around his neck. She'd never been the sort of woman who considered a masculine conquest intriguing, but she understood it now. What it felt like to have a man claim you, a rather barbaric declaration, and it sent a thrill through her.Mine.She kissed him hungrily, not holding back this time, now she knew what she was doing. The fit of his body against hers felt so right. Kincaid lifted her off her toes, one hand splaying over her bottom as he grabbed a handful of her bustle, driving her body against him until she felt something hard press against her belly. It was not his beltbuckle.
Desire bloomed to life within her, pure, primal need roaring along her nerve endings. "Kincaid," she whispered, arching her throat as he kissed her chin, then bit hergently.
"Liam," he told her, and she lost herself in that moment. Surrenderedcompletely.
"Liam."
The steel of his erection was defiantly insistent. And the rest of the art in the gallery sprang to mind; a woman's hand curled around a tumescent purple erection, her lips lowering to wrap around thatbulboushead.
Is it...?Ava slid her hand lower, drawing back from the kiss to stare into his eyes as her palm brushed over a firm, heatedlength.
Kincaid's eyes grew glazed, his mouth parting. "Jaysus." He captured her hand, shaking his head. "As much as I'd love to let you finish that thought... this isn't the place. Orthetime."
"Sorry,"shesaid.
And he smiled his slightly crooked smile, the one that stole her breath. "Don't be sorry, Ava. I'm postponing the gesture. Not rebuffing it.Later."
"Later." She kissed him as he set her down, and then groaned when he captured her face and gently pushed away from her. "We have to stop doing this," she said breathlessly, licking her lips as she staggered a little without his body tosupporther.
Kincaid reared back as if she'dstruckhim.
"No... I mean... not the kissing. The kissing is wonderful. But you dragging me into alleys? Kissing me in art galleries?" She flushed with heat. "What if somebodyseesus?"
"Nobody here knows us. Your reputation is safe." He splayed his hand on the brick wall beside her. "Ava." Pure heat spilled through his eyes. He wanted her. She couldseeit.
"When?" shewhispered.
"When your mind's not full of vaccines and rare mushrooms, anddhampir,and you can pay me somethought—"
This time,sheput her finger to his lips. "You have no idea how distractingyouare. Dr. Gibson asked me several times whether I was all right when I was helping him. It's not the case distracting me, Kincaid. It's you distracting me fromthecase."
Kincaid bit her finger, and a wave of pleasure swept through her, a soft gasp escaping her lips. Then he smiled. "Well, now. That's what a man wantstohear."
Pushing away from her, he captured her hand and tucked it in the crook of his arm. There was a cocky strut to his step, as if he'd staked his claim and beenreassured.
She'd never have suspected he hid so much doubt. Ava brushed hair out of her face. "I've never wanted a man as much as Iwantyou."
Kincaid paused. "Never?"
There was a question there, one that hinted at the issue between them. Byrnes. His wedding. And all the left-behind feelings she'ddealtwith.
Had he been speaking of Winthrop when Kincaid told her she was his? Or was it someone else hepictured?
Ava forced herself to deliberately think of Byrnes. And for the first time, she realized it had been days since she'd given him thought. And perhaps she'd beentooinnocent, but the thoughts she had given Byrnes in past years had been different to those she felt now.He smiled at me. He touchedmyhand.
"Never," she admitted, and the word was as much concession for herself as it wasforhim.
For it was all Kincaid. And if she was quite honest, it had been ever since that interlude in the Garden of Eden when she stole his coat. She still had the bloody thing. She might have even sniffed at it once or twice, drinking in his scent in the privacy of her rooms where she couldn't be caught. Ava groaned. "You frustrate me intensely. But you're always interested in what I have to say. You never treat me with kid gloves. It's.... I feel freer with you than I've ever felt in my life. I don't quite know what to make of it. Of any of this." She gestured at the brick walls. "I just kissed you in an alley where anyone couldseeus!"
"You're in lust," he said, giving her that wickedsmile.
"In lust," sherepeated.
