Read Fantasyland 03 Fantastical for Free Online Page B

I’ll not hunt bunny anymore,” he sounded slightly amused, slightly surprised and
slightly annoyed, a strange combination that worked for him. “Go to
sleep,” he said on another squeeze of his arms.
    I pulled in another breath and sleep came
closer.
    Then I mumbled, “Pray God, those things don’t harm her.”
    His body again got tight.
    “Pray God,” I repeated softly.
    “Sleep,” his voice rumbled the order.
    “She tra la’ed and danced on her toes.
Anyone who tra la’s and dances on their toes shouldn’t be harmed,
even by those things. No, especially by those things. ”
    “Cora, what did I say?”
    I fell silent.
    Then, on the edge of sleep, I whispered so
low it was barely audible, “I hope Aggie’s okay.”
    I felt his arms squeeze one last time before
I was dead to the world.
    * * * * *
    I woke feeling great.
    This feeling didn’t last long because the
next feeling that assaulted me was the knowledge that my body was
wrapped around the long, hard body of Noctorno. He was on his back,
I was nearly on top of him, my thigh thrown over both of his, my
head on his chest, my arm tight around him.
    To make matters worse, both his arms were
around me too.
    Holy crap.
    My head came up but before I could move away
I was imprisoned by his light blue eyes.
    “You didn’t snore,” his voice rumbled
sleepily and, might I add, sexily.
    Uh-oh.
    “Um –”
    “Or move.”
    “Uh –”
    “Or steal the covers.”
    I bit my lip.
    “Gods, you cuddled, ” he muttered, his
eyes narrowing dangerously.
    Oh dear.
    “I –” I started trying to pull away but his
arms got tighter so I stopped mostly because his arms were really
freaking strong and I had no choice.
    “What’s this now?” he murmured, his
glittering, no longer sleepy eyes moving over my face.
    “What?” I asked.
    “Seduction?” he asked back.
    Uh. What?
    Then it hit me.
    “No!” I cried. “I –”
    “I can’t imagine you’d be very good at it,”
he remarked.
    Oh Lord. I was seeing he was back to the
jerk.
    I tugged at his hold and put my hands to his
chest to get better leverage.
    This didn’t work.
    “Let me go.”
    “Though,” he carried on, ignoring me, “you
put your mind to something…” then he trailed off.
    Oh God.
    “Noctorno, let… me…” I shoved hard,
“ go! ”
    I got nowhere.
    His eyes dropped to my mouth. “I’ve a mind
to test your skills.”
    Uh-oh!
    “Let me go!” I repeated.
    He didn’t let me go. His arms separated, one
sliding up my back, the other one sliding low on my waist. The hand
at my waist slanted down to my hip and his fingers pressed in.
    “You feel better now that there’s more to
you. I like the curves. When you were skin and bones…” he trailed
off again.
    Great. Just my luck. He liked that I was fat
in this world.
    “I’m not going to say it again,” I told him
on another shove. “Let me go!”
    His eyes moved back to mine. “Kiss me and
I’ll let you go.”
    My body went still.
    Then I shouted, “No!”
    “Can’t even give your husband that,” he
muttered, his expression changing from speculative to daunting.
    “Right. I can’t. You’re a jerk and I hate
you, remember?” I snapped.
    His arms tightened. “I remember,” he
replied. “But that’s not it. You can’t do it.”
    “Can’t do what?”
    “Kiss me.”
    “I can kiss you. I just don’t want to.”
    “I’ll wager you can kiss me, what I mean is,
you can’t kiss me the way I’d like it.”
    It was my eyes that narrowed at that.
    I really had no idea if I was a good kisser
or not. Brian didn’t seem to mind the way I kissed. In fact, all I
had to do was kiss him, give him a good, long, wet one and he was
all over me. Then again, he was a guy. Guys didn’t need much and
Brian needed less than most (in my, admittedly, not so vast
experience).
    “I could kiss you the way you’d like it but
I’m not going to,” I returned.
    “Drivel,” he muttered.
    “I could!” I snapped.
    “Not a prayer in