Seth held his empty mug, and thought,When did I become so easily foxed?
Sun fully set, more townsfolk shuffled into the square. The volume of the music increased as drums and brass instruments joined the fray. Hadn’t their friends been gone for a long time? He couldn’t see Cooperor Lady Jasmine at all. Or Mr. Sanderson.
They werealone.
“Is it chaotic?” she asked. “All of those details in your mind all at once?”
“No more chaotic than your mind is, I imagine,” he said, finding it harder to focus on anything but his need to kiss her. “It’s not all at once. Well… not normally.”
“Do you remember everything about me?” she asked, her teeth grazed her bottom lip in a way that drove himwild. “Everything that I say?”
He remained silent, but nodded.
With a stunned gasp, Cassandra clamped her hands over her mouth.
“No,”she said, muffled behind her fingers. Her ears reddened. “I may never speak again!”
“It doesn’t matter what you say.” He grinned. “I enjoy listening to you talk.”
But he also enjoyed it when shedidn’ttalk. When he made her so breathless, shecouldn’ttalk. He scanned the area and calculated the steps to the bakery with the length of the song playing. How much time would he feasibly have?
Not enough,his reason supplied, but his reason wasn’t in charge anymore, and the clock was ticking. Seth stood and offered Cassandra his hand.
“Come with me.”
“Right now?” Cassandra asked, looking around.
It wouldhaveto be right now.
“Only for a few minutes.”
The hesitation in her eyes turned into curiosity. She placed her hand in his, allowed him to help her to her feet, and took his arm. He navigated her from the square, through shadowed streets and into the alley behind the bakery.
Retrieving a key from the door frame, he hastily unlocked the door and pushed it open. Seth pulled Cassandra, giggling, into the old storage room. A quarter the size of a normal bedchamber, pitch-black without windows, with a single bed against the wall. As soon as the door closed, he was upon her, gripping her hips as he feasted on her mouth. She tasted of cinnamon and heat, far more intoxicating than any drink. With agile fingers, he removed her bonnet, letting it fall to the floor, and recaptured her lips. He would never tire of the low moan she made as he brushed his tongue over hers.
He separated from her mouth and he angled her chin and trailed his lips down her throat. With a laugh, she pushed him away and turned her back to him and blindly reached for her bonnet. “You’re a scoundrel.”
Seth pulled at her waist, anchoring her bottom against his hips, and wrapped the other arm high around her shoulders. She arched into him as he grazed over her clothed breasts, down to the softness of her belly, and shestill wasn’t wearing stays.
This would take less time than he thought.
“What are you doing?” she breathed.
“Being a scoundrel.”
Chapter Twenty
“They’ll be looking for us.” She gasped as he unbuttoned her bodice, revealing her breasts.
“No one will find us here,” he whispered as he caressed her, rolling a hardened bud between his finger and thumb. Her pitched inhale thrilled him and he captured it with his mouth. She turned to face him, wrapped her arms around his neck, and rose on her toes to tease the tip of his tongue with hers.
“We can’t be gone long.” She lifted her chin, offering herself to him as he dragged his lips down her throat.
“We won’t be,” he promised. “Would you like me to stop?”
“Don’t you dare,” she breathed, pulling him down for another scorching kiss.
With his hands on her hips, he guided them back until they tumbled to the bed. He shifted her beneath him and settled between her thighs. Balanced on his elbows and knees, hekissedher. Her fingers threaded through his hair, the tips of her fingernails trailed along his scalp, and he ground himself between her hips. He couldn’t get close enough, touch enough, tasteenoughof her.