Not even that knowledge could make her leave. She didn’t remain because it was her duty to her family or her mission. She remained because of him—the Dragon King who had seen through her glamour and still wanted her.
She slipped her hands under the edge of his navy jacket. Even through his shirt she could feel the heat of him. It made her stomach flutter in anticipation. With her palms flat against his taut stomach, she slid her hands upward over hard sinew. Her mouth went dry as she imagined what he would look like naked. Her hands were shaking by the time she reached his thick shoulders and pushed the jacket off. He loosened his arms and let it fall unheeded to the floor.
Her gaze snagged on something on the left side of his neck just peeking past the collar of his light blue shirt. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t seen it before, but then again, her eyes had been on that incredible face of his.
His green eyes were hooded as he watched her, and yet he let desire flare in his depths for her to see. It made chills rush over her. Chills and … longing.
Moving slowly, Shara undid the buttons of his shirt one by one until she reached the waist of his slacks. She was breathless by the time she slid her hand inside his shirt and rested her palms against his warm flesh. His stomach clenched and she felt all the hard muscles move beneath her hand.
Shara could no longer wait to see his body. She pulled his shirt out of his pants and jerked it open, the last two buttons flying to bounce along the wood floor. Her lips parted as she took in the spectacular display of hard sinew and the dragon tattoo. Unable to help herself, she traced the tat, startled by the black and red ink mixed together.
But it was the dragon design itself that made her skin prickle with awareness, appreciation.
Soul-sucking desire.
The dragon took up most of Kiril’s impressive chest. It looked as if it were climbing his chest with its wings half-spread and the tip of his long tail curling to the left side and disappearing into his slacks. The head of the dragon, inked on his right shoulder and neck, was lifted toward Kiril, as if seeking him.
She raised her eyes to Kiril and sucked in a breath when the heat, the hunger of his gaze slammed into her. It was scorching, searing. Sizzling.
It wasn’t as if she hadn’t experienced desire before, but whatever was happening between them was on another level completely. The intensity of it frightened her. Yet she couldn’t leave no matter what her mind cautioned her to do. Because she wanted him with a desperation that bordered on insanity.
Shara couldn’t draw enough breath into her lungs. She ached, she burned.
She yearned.
His heat only fueled her growing passion to new heights. As dangerous as it was, she grasped it with both hands and held on.
Shara gradually caressed her hand up his washboard stomach, over his hard chest to his thick shoulders just as she had done to remove his jacket. Except this time there was nothing between her and his skin. She wanted to see more of that sun-bronzed skin and feast her eyes on his virile form.
She pushed his shirt over his shoulders and down his arms to join his jacket on the floor. He wore the suit like a man born to it. It had hinted at the physique beneath, but nothing could portray his incredible form like the man himself bare of everything.
What madness it was for her to think she could seduce a man like Kiril. He exuded sex and sensuality as if he created them for his arsenal alone. He was the one who had seduced her—with a single look.
Why it had taken her until that moment to realize, she wasn’t sure. In the confines of his house, in the heat of his nearness, her worries and concerns about her family and future crumbled away. She looked into his eyes and became powerless, impotent to think of anything other than him.
Finally he touched her. Shara couldn’t stop the shiver of anticipation that ran through her nor the sigh that escaped past her lips. His smug smile only made the desire burn brighter.
His hand slid around her neck to the back of her head where his fingers closed in her hair. He tugged her head back at the same time he pulled her forward so that her breasts scraped against his chest.
Shara was breathless, panting as she anxiously waited for what he would do next. All the while she lowered her hands to the waist of his slacks. The feel of his thick arousal against her stomach had her reaching for his cock. She wrapped her fingers around his rod through his pants and squeezed.
He yanked her head back farther, causing her back to arch and her breasts to push against his chest. Shara watched the desire darken his features, watched the passion take him in its grip.
She ran her hand up and down his length twice before she unfastened his trousers. His pants hung precariously on his trim hips as she slipped her hand down the front to once more wrap her fingers around him.
He was velvet and steel, fire and fervor.