‘By all means, add it to the list.’
Bloody hell! Doesn’t he even realize that was meant to be sarcastic?
Ignoring the glare I was shooting at him, he took me by the hand and pointed to my still half-filled plate. I had spent the last five minutes shoving the food on it from left to right in a listless manner.
‘Are you finished with your dinner, my love?’
‘It went cold long before you arrived!’ I said, with another meaningful glare.
He apparently was impervious to those. ‘I see. How convenient. Then I assume you do not need to eat it. Let’s dance. And do your best to arrange your features in a way that suggests ardent devotion, passion, love, yearning, infatuation, attachment and amorousness.’
I raised an eyebrow. ‘In that order? Or may I rearrange them alphabetically?’
His dark eyes swept over me, coolly. ‘If you wish.’
Gah! He was impossible!
‘And what about you?’ I asked sweetly, as we rose to our feet and he more or less dragged me to the dance floor that was set up in the next room, accessible through three wide arches. ‘Will you, too, be displaying feelings of devotion, passion, love, yearning, infatuation, attachment and amorousness?’
‘No. But then, you’re the female, so everybody expects you to be the emotional one.’
Oh really? Well, I was certainly feeling quite emotional at the moment! My emotions, however, little resembled devotion, passion, love, yearning, infatuation, attachment or amorousness.
The music started playing, and we started to move. Or rather, he started to move me. After a few moments, he said, so low only I could hear:
‘This isn’t working.’
‘Really? Whatever gave you that idea?’
‘The fact that you’ve stamped on my feet three times already points rather strongly in that direction.’
‘Indeed?’
‘Yes, indeed. Also, you’re glowering at me like a vengeful fury from hell.’
‘Ah, you’ve finally noticed that, have you?’
Shooting me a cold glare, he leaned closer.
‘Remember,’ he growled, ‘we are in love, you and I!’
Something painful tugged at my heart. I clamped down on the feeling, hard.
‘No, we aren’t!’
‘Oh yes, we are, my darling.’ Spinning me around in time with the music, he pulled me close. His dark, sea-coloured eyes sparkled in the candlelight, and before I could prevent it, his lips met mine. There, in public, on the dance floor!
Dash it all! What is he up to?
I didn’t know, not in the least.
And you don’t really care, as long as he doesn’t stop kissing you, do you? Lilly, what is happening to you?
Ineffectually, I struggled to get out of his hold, but it was no use. His arms held me tightly, preventing my escape. And then I felt something delicious and wet tickle my lips.
Oh no! He isn’t going to… No, not here, in public! He can’t!
Apparently, he could. Half a second later, his powerful tongue parted my lips, invading my mouth. For one moment, just one moment, I surrendered myself to the blissful sensation. For that moment, I was dancing threefold. I was dancing with my feet, hardly noticing it anymore. I was dancing in my mouth, a delicious dance that sent my blood roaring through my veins. And I was dancing in my soul, more gracefully than I ever had in real life.