Me knowing about his wife wasn’t the only thing that was different though, was it?
We were in a tiny room at the top of the tallest tower.
Alone.
And the hungry look in his eye…
It made me want to see if there was more behind it.
“Don’t you want to be at your birthday party?” I said.
“They won’t notice I’m gone,” he said, his eyes focused on mine.
Boy, he looked good. And we were tucked away in that tiny room, away from prying eyes. We could do anything and no one would ever know about it. We could scream and shout and no one would come running…
“I never got to give you my present,” I said, my voice hoarse in my dry throat.
Was I really doing this?
“You don’t need to get me anything,” he said.
But I already was giving him something, I realized. Something to look at. He barely took his eyes off me.
“I think it’s only right I give you something,” I said. “You are hosting me in this castle. I want to sing for you. Just for you.”
He smiled. Why was it the hottest guys always looked so good no matter what expression was on their face? I was already turning slick down below.
“Okay,” he said. “What will you sing?”
“It’s your birthday,” I said. “So, I’ll sing Happy Birthday.”
“Is it a traditional song?”
“Yes. But the version I’m going to sing for you is probably the most famous version of all.”
I turned away and mussed up my hair. When I turned back, I pouted and did my very best Marilyn Monroe impression.
The transformation over his face was fascinating to behold. He began with confusion—he’d never heard Happy Birthday before or Marilyn Monroe for that matter—and then it morphed into a smile of pleasure… and by the time I came within inches of his lips, he adopted an expression of desperate longing.
It appeared Marilyn Monroe’s sexiness was universal—in every sense of the word.
I stood with my hands on my hips.
“What do you think of that, Mr. Lord?” I said.
With my hip cocked and my dress riding up, I couldn’t have looked more provocative.
Why am I doing this? The mission was over. He wasn’t going to share his loyalties with me, a virtual stranger. I had nothing to gain from kissing him…
And yet it was the only thing I wanted at that moment.
Maybe I wanted to prove to myself I could hook a lord?
But even I didn’t believe that.
It was because I was attracted to him.
He was a handsome Titan and he turned me on. I never faked how attracted I was to him. None of it was an act. I felt certain he thought about me the same way but the memory of his wife kept intruding in his thought process.
His eyes flicked to my lips.
Go on.
Do it.
I want you to.
Please.
Then his eyes flicked over my shoulder.
I didn’t turn to look. I knew no one would be standing there. Instead, I would find nothing but empty air. He would see something, to his eyes, that was very real.
His deceased wife.
I wasn’t angry. It didn’t bother me he was thinking about another woman—it was only natural it would be her. She had been his wife after all. But I felt instinctively he needed to get over her. He needed to move on with his life.
Right now.
With me.
“I, uh, think we should be getting back to the party,” Kal said.
“You’re doing it again,” I said.
“Doing what?”
“Wearing your mask. Every time we get close, your mask slips back into place and you turn away from me.”
He couldn’t meet my eyes.
“Why?” I said.
I knew perfectly well why. After seeing the portrait of his wife in his office and Emana’s warning that she didn’t want him to get hurt, I had enough pieces of the puzzle to put everything together.
Because I looked like his wife. I looked like her, and it both drew him to me and repelled him at the same time.
It could drive any man insane.
His mouth moved but he couldn’t form the words he needed to say.
But I wanted to hear them.
“Why did you bring me to your home, Kal-i?” I said. “Why did you want me here?”
“I… thought you could help improve the music we have in town,” he said, still unable to meet my eyes.
He was a terrible liar. It was a good thing.
“And yet, you could have asked me to sing at your party today but you didn’t,” I said. “If I was going to educate your guests on Earth music, tonight would have been the perfect time.”
“I… I forgot,” he said.
I pressed him again.
“Why did you bring me here?” I said. “Don’t you like me?”
“What? No. Of course, I like you.”
“Then why don’t you kiss me?”
I felt it was important for him to say the words, for him to mean them.
“My wife…” he managed to say, but he couldn’t say anymore.
He took a step back.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t have done this to you. You deserve to be treated better than as a memory of a ghost.”
He moved to step aside but I blocked him.
He moved to go the other way and I tracked him again.
He could crush me so easily, and yet right here, right now, I was in control.
It would be so easy for me to lean forward and plant a kiss on his lips, but I refused.
He needed to be the one to kiss me.
Would he do it?
I didn’t want to lose the intensity we had.
I would be as direct as I could be.
“I want you to kiss me,” I said.
“I told you—”
“I’m not your wife,” I said simply. “I’m sure she was a very charming woman. She had to be to deserve a Titan like you. I’m not her. I’m me. I don’t know what happened to her or why. And I don’t need to know. All I do know is, I want you to kiss me.”
The fire re-ignited in his eyes. His fire for me, not his wife.
He stood up tall and
