"Still mad at me?" she whispered, her lips dangerously close to his neck now.
She tilted her head, letting her nose trace his skin gently, slowly, as if studying the way it burned beneath her.
He didn't move.
So she moved lower, her lips ghosting the side of his throat, pausing.
"You didn't even say you missed me," she said sweetly, voice low and velvety. "After I swam through the ocean… ran from guards… risked my perfect hair in seawater…"
Her hand slipped under his coat, resting lightly on his abdomen. She could feel the tight muscles beneath the fabric, every one of them taut like drawn bowstrings.
Still, he didn't turn. But his breathing had changed.
More shallow.
More erratic.
"You're being mean," she whispered playfully, her teeth grazing the edge of his collarbone. "Are you punishing me, Human Doll?"
Alexander finally moved—just a little. His head turned the slightest inch toward her. His eyes, no longer cold but glowing with quiet fire, met hers.
