Read Sons of Lyra: Runaway Hearts for Free Online

overreacting.

    Before she had time to
refuse his offer, his hand was against her back. He ran it up to
the back of her neck, tickling it when his fingers cradled her and
sending another wave of tingles racing down her spine. She fought
the temptation to close her eyes over the warmth and sensuality of
his caress, and stared at him. She’d forgotten just how seductive a
Minervan way of serving it could be. He held the glass between his
index finger and thumb and brought it to her lips. His little
finger brushed her jaw line. She closed her eyes now, unable to
stop herself. The cold glass touched her lips and she drank the
liquid down. It went straight to her head. Her eyes opened when he
lowered the glass, tracing it down her neck to her chest, teasing
the curve of her breasts. She swallowed hard and stared into his
eyes.

    He smiled.

    Her heart
pounded.

    Damn him.

    She pushed him off her and
straightened herself out. “You’re a little presumptuous to think
you can do that to a woman you don’t know.”

    He knocked back his drink
and refilled the glasses. She looked at him. There wasn’t even the
slightest hint of it affecting him. His feelings were stable—calm
and collected. She couldn’t detect any change in them. Two glasses
of Koji should be enough to start getting him tipsy. Was his
stomach made of Varkan steel?

    She ate a little more food
to bolster her defences against the drink. There was no way she was
going to get drunk before him. She had to make it go to his head
somehow.

    He picked up his glass.
She took it from him, making sure that her fingers touched his in
the process. He looked at her. She smiled and wet her lips. His
gaze fell to them, darkening with desire.

    “ I know another
Minervan way of serving,” she said in a calm whisper, gunning for
seductive and succeeding. “Would you let me show you?”

    He nodded. She knocked her
own drink back to give herself a little courage and ignored the hot
fire that swept through her veins. She just had to hold it together
a little longer and then she could get out of here.

    She stood and he raised a
brow at her when she handed him the drink. “Hold this a
moment.”

    His eyes shot to her legs
when she hitched the long front panel of her dress up, gradually
exposing herself. His gaze followed the hem of her dress as it
rose, revealing her shins at first and then her knees and finally
her thighs. The visible hunger painted on his face was enough to
make her give him a brief flash of her underwear before she
regained control and lowered the dress to cover them. She wasn’t
supposed to be actually seducing him. This was just about getting
away. None of this was real.

    His eyes fixed on one spot
and his brow rose. He was looking at her thigh. She traced her
fingers along the band around it to the small knife it held. His
gaze darkened. Did the thought of her carrying a weapon affect him
in a sexual way? He looked positively hungry for her now. She undid
the buckle and removed the knife and holster from her leg. With a
smile, she tossed it onto the table. His attention flicked there
for a moment and then focused on her exposed thighs
again.

    She walked over to stand
in front of him, her dress still hitched up. He leaned back when
she pressed one knee into the couch beside his thigh. His eyes were
wide now, dark but fascinated. Her heart raced, sending her head
spinning with the alcohol. Nerves made her tremble. She just wanted
to get away. If she fed him the shot this way, the alcohol would go
to his head. It had nothing to do with wanting to feel his hands on
her, or his lips against hers.

    She brought her other knee
up, pressed it into the couch beside his other thigh, and held his
gaze as she lowered herself to sit on his lap.

    He swallowed. She smiled
and took the glass from his hand. His hand fell to the couch. She
pooled the front part of her dress between her thighs and cocked
her head to one side, waiting. He didn’t react as she thought