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buried deep.
    So what else was he picking up? There was some…flavor on the wind, something he’d never sensed before in all his long existence.
    Whatever it was, it sure as hell had the potential to alleviate the boredom that had assailed him lately.
    He opened his eyes. Why not? he thought. It couldn’t hurt to hear what the girl had to say.
    Besides which, she wasn’t exactly an eyesore.
    In fact, once you got past her irritating personality, she bordered on mouthwatering. Silky blond hair, cut in an elfin style that enhanced wide cheekbones and an opinionated little chin. Big gray eyes with a fire behind them. A mobile, sensitive mouth that could express emotion with one twitch of the lips.
    And her body?
    She wasn’t tall, and he thought she was slender, but it was hard to tell under the bulky down jacket she wore.
    “Take off your coat and stay a while,” he said suddenly, flashing a grin. Question his charm, would she? The little chit would pay for that one.
    She looked at him suspiciously, surprised by his abrupt change in manner, but after a moment she nodded and started to remove the jacket.
    “Let me help with that,” he murmured, crossing the space between them before the coat had slipped from her shoulders. He put his hands on her upper arms and slid the jacket down the rest of the way, deliberately pulling the girl close for a brief second as he divested her of the garment.
    He heard her sharp intake of breath and sensed her quickening heart beat, and he permitted himself a smile of satisfaction. Then he stepped back, her coat dangling from one hand, and his eyes widened in appreciation.
    The black turtleneck she wore covered her skin, but it also clung to curves that were deliciously perfect, from her full, round breasts to her tiny waist. The shirt was tucked into a pair of jeans, so worn the denim looked as soft and thin as a handkerchief. They were formfitting enough that he could continue to follow the lines of her body until he’d drunk his fill.
    “Hey! Cut that out!”
    The girl’s voice, crisp and commanding, broke through his sensual reverie.
    He frowned at her. “Cut what out?”
    She waved a hand at him. “That thing you’re doing. The ogling. Like you’re undressing me with your eyes.”
    He raised one eyebrow. “I guess there are better ways to undress you,” he murmured, tossing her jacket so it landed on the back of a chair and putting both hands on her curving hips before she had time to react. In the next instant he’d tugged her turtleneck out of the waistband of her jeans and laid his hands on the bare skin of her waist.
    He was prepared for her reaction: a gasp and an effort to pull away, at which point he tightened his hold instinctively. That was all part of the game.
    What he wasn’t prepared for was his own reaction.
    A bolt of something, like white hot lightning, seared through him and left him shaking. His eyes, which he’d closed to better enjoy the sensation of soft bare skin against his palms, snapped open and met hers.
    Nothing supernatural in their depths that he could see, and the mere fact that she was part Fae shouldn’t cause a reaction like this. The only thing he could see in her wide gray eyes was the furious indignation he’d expected given her obvious orneriness.
    So what the hell was happening? He could still feel it: some kind of connection, like a ripple of power between them.
    He jerked his hands off the girl as if she’d burned him.
    “Did you feel that?” he asked sharply.
    The girl was breathing hard and her expression indicated a strong desire to kill him. “Yes, you idiot, I felt that! I was standing right here. I don’t let guys get that close after a first date, much less after five minutes. This is how you get girls? My God, how desperate are the women around here? If you ever try that again I’ll—”
    “Shut up. Did you feel something strange when we touched skin to skin? And before you make any sarcastic remarks, I mean strange