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"You’ve been watchingup, he unraveled the braid, coainst her knees as he did so

"Since the very firstwith the woman I like it"

She didn’t smile "I see the boy in you as well," she said "The one who crushed nuts for my sundae"

She touched his face, but it was s when they’re infatuated, in lust, but they don’t go out of their way on the sestures to seal the deal faster It’s a very priht peanuts because it was nice, and you thought I’d like it You have a soft side, Mikhael, a side that likes to please a woman emotionally as well as physically"

"I’ll deny that to e the truth of it"

"Also doesn’t change what I a a breath, she slid fro her

"Give me the truth, once and for all," she said, a steadiness to her gaze that belied the tension he sensed in her "What is this, Mikhael? You ca Yet you’re courtingup emotions You say I’m not a project, the way Ruby was, but what other purpose can you have for drawing me out this way? You say it’s different for you, but how a who and what you are?"

"If you’re looking for a guarantee, Raina, I can’t give you one But I’uarantees You ation, the oath you’ve taken, it comes first So how do I fit into that plan? Or do you want me to believe you’ve beco so tainted that neither Hell nor Heaven claim it?"

"That’s not true" His temper sparked, unexpectedly "You don’t believe that about yourself"

"I don’t believe it, but a lot of others do"

"What I feel is what I feel I want you"

"Today, for a year? Forever? Or do you have a specific contractual ter do I pencil you in for?"

Forever, if you knohat’s good for you He considered her, his brows drawing down "You’re picking a fight for no good reason, so what’s really bugging you, Raina? This isn’t a fucking session with a client, where you orchestrate it based on their needs and hourly rate"

She flushed, the green-gold eyes firing "I didn’t say it was"

"No, but you’re not defining it any more than I am You’ve never had a male you couldn’t co for someone to take the reins your whole life"

He stepped forward; she backed up, into the unyielding trunk of a live oak When he slid a finger down her cheek, he pressed against the soft skin, made her feel that firm touch under her chin, down her throat so she raised it, sed, though her jaas tight, the eyes still angry, uncertain "That’s the real problem, isn’t it, Raina? You want so scares you more, because you’ve been in a situation where they did all the wrong things You can’t control how you feel aboutto be able to predict where that will take us If you’ve never had that experience before, why is it so difficult to believe it ht be the same for me?"

BECAUSE YOU’RE A DARK GUARDIAN BECAUSE YOU’RE not saying it outright Because I need to hear it and believe it But Raina was too damn cowardly to ask him to say it If he refused, she would feel like a cat who’d stepped out in front of a semi If he did say it, and she heard the lie in his voice, she would feel like a whore in truth She’d have to act like one to laugh it off, to take this back to safe footing, and that wasn’t where she wanted to be with Mikhael She wanted to be real with hiht over nothing, though it was er She was in a situation she didn’t kno to handle While it had given her clarity, tranquility, for one moment, the ritual had also hosts of the past It was all bubbling too close to the surface She was going to say things, things that would give hi in love with hi the sa back to the house" She said it without anger, but he held her there, his voice low