House of Shadows (Royal Houses 2)

“It’s fine that you haven’t,” Kerrigan said.

“Agreed,” Noda said, her voice solemn. “It’s better than regretting it.”

And no one had a response to that.

“Well, I suppose that I challenge Audria,” Roake said.

“Big surprise,” Audria said, flipping her hair.

“If you could have your first time with one person in this circle, who would it be?”

Audria gaped. “That’s… that’s not fair.”

Roake shrugged. “That’s the question.”

“I…” Audria looked around. Her gaze jerking between each person and then shrugging. “I can’t choose. Consequence, I suppose.”

“Then, you have to kiss Noda.”

Audria huffed. “That’s a terrible consequence.”

Noda looked offended by her response for one moment, but then Audria was on her hands and knees, crawling across the small circle. Her movements were unsteady. The alcohol was getting to them all. Kerrigan’s head felt fuzzy. But she was unprepared for Audria to gently take Noda’s face in her hands as if she were precious and kiss her so soft and slowly.

Roake gaped at them. Kerrigan’s eyebrows rose. They were kind of hot. She was definitely into guys, but still… it was hot.

Audria pulled back and winked at Noda. “I’m an excellent kisser.”

Noda nodded, dazed. “That you are.”

Audria giggled and returned to her spot. “I challenge Kerrigan.”

“Of course,” Kerrigan said, taking a fortifying sip of faerie punch. “What do you have?”

“What did you see in your bonding ceremony?”

Kerrigan froze. Her head spun. Did Audria know that she and Tieran weren’t bonded? Had she guessed and then gotten her drunk so that she’d reveal it?

“We all know what the others saw, but you’ve never shared it,” Audria continued. “I’ve been dying to know.”

No, she didn’t know. She was just being Audria and nosy. But of course, Kerrigan couldn’t say. Because they weren’t bonded. And Fordham would know if she was lying.

“Come on. It’s an easy one,” Audria encouraged.

But it wasn’t an easy one for Kerrigan.

“Consequence,” she murmured.

“Well,” Audria frowned, tapping her lip. “Your consequence is to go off into the greenhouse and kiss Fordham for three minutes.”

“What?” she chirped.

“It was an easy challenge. So, I’m giving you a bigger consequence,” she informed her haughtily. A twinkle was in her eye. As if she’d planned this all along. The little matchmaker.

“Fine,” she said, coming unsteadily to her feet.

Fordham rose beside her, and she stomped into the greenhouse. She walked until they were far enough away from their friends before she spoke, “I know that you don’t want to do this. So, we can just wait…”

But she never finished her statement because there was Fordham. His fingers pushed up into her unruly red hair, and his lips descended on her own until there was nothing else in the entire world except the feel of him. Those perfect lips against hers and the taste of faerie punch potent between them.

She tripped, the alcohol making her legs wobble. He caught her easily with a breath of laughter on his lips. Her head was fuzzy, but she still couldn’t believe he was kissing her. After all the effort not to show how much she wanted to kiss him, here he was, with his mouth sealed against hers.

Fordham laid her down amid the out-of-season flowers and cradled her body against his. His hands moving from her back, across her stomach, and up her sides. She arched into him, wanting so much more. Her hands ripped his shirt out from his pants and ran over the hard contours of his abdomen. She dragged her nails over the pale skin, wanting nothing more than to let the faerie punch take over. To forget the three-minute rule from Audria and pull him to her. She could take what she wanted right here in the greenhouse.

“Fordham,” she murmured as he broke away to look at her.

But whatever he saw in her glazed gaze made him dive back down and claim her mouth once again. His tongue delved into her mouth, stroking against her own until there was nothing but heat and need. Gods, she wanted him. She tried to remind herself that this was just part of the game. But the way he moved against hers and the heat from his body made her forget everything entirely.

“Ford,” she groaned as he moved from her mouth to her ear and neck and down to her collarbone. She dropped her head backward, arching into his touch. “Oh Gods.”

He stopped before diving lower. His chest rising and falling like they’d just run a marathon. His pelvis was pressed firmly against her hip, and she could feel precisely what their kissing was doing to him. No matter that they were drunk on punch and under the spell of a game, they both wanted this.

Then, his hands trailed lower and lower and lower. They slid under the waistband of her pants, and everything stilled for a brief moment. His swirling gray irises met hers, a question, a comma, a pause. She nodded once. Yes. Yes, she wanted this. All of him.