All that hot anger sparked into something shivery, and tickly, and … NO, Jemma, you aren’t letting this devil in disguise give you the tummy tingles! It’s bad enough your lady bits are all in a tizzy over him, but if these feelings get any higher up your body … you’re in big trouble!

“You look … beautiful, Mouse,” he murmured hoarsely.

I was in big trouble.

He leapt to his feet, smacked his shin on the coffee table and hissed in pain, doubling over and clutching his leg.

A giggle burst out of me, thankfully breaking the fizzing feelings before they could work their way up from my stomach to my chest. “Well, I was nervous until you just behaved like a teenage boy on his first date.”

SJ straightened, that tight, slight frown back in place. “Are human males not supposed to compliment their females?”

I grinned. “Well, yes, but the experienced ones don’t do it while tripping over their own feet to try and fondle their date.”

He scowled. “I do not … fondle … human women!” But his eyes locked on my breasts, covered by narrow, gathered strips of pale pink tulle, held together by delicate silver chains crisscrossing my cleavage.

Shag your way out of it, Bliss …

“You don’t?” I purred, taking a step closer. His eyes snapped to mine.

“I don’t.”

“So …” I was close enough to run a finger down the line of buttons on his shirt. He coughed. I smirked. “You haven’t … experimented with other human women before? You know … tested the limits of our … stretchiness?”

My stomach flipped. Why the Hell had I asked that? I didn’t actually want to know the answer … did I?

But, too late now, the words were out there. My finger stilled on the button just below his shirt opening, and my gaze fell to that spot, suddenly unable to keep eye contact. I held my breath while waiting for his response.

You’ve got it bad, girl!

His hand, large, and so warm, enveloped mine, pressing it against his chest. Holy … his heart was beating a mile a minute.

Mine was, too.

“I have never touched a human woman …” he informed me.

I chanced a glance up at him. His expression was serious … earnest, even? His fingers caressed my knuckles, his thumb slipped under my palm. He was holding my hand.

I tingled.

What the Hell was going on here?

Remember what he wants from you …

I tugged my hand away from his and stepped back. “We should get going … we’re probably late for your reservation.”

His expression changed, closed down. His eyes darkened.

“Indeed.”

I swallowed as he opened one of his mystical, magical portal thingies, and took me by the arm to step into it.

I was suddenly filled with trepidation. Because that expression on his face, it was as if he were taking me to the gallows, and not to dinner.

22. Distracted by Other Parts

Chapter 22