Hierarchy by Madelaine Montague Read Free Book Online

that a polite way of pointing out that you can tell I’m from the Styx?”
    “Are they all as sweet as you?” he murmured.
    A sudden image of the ‘friend’ that had betrayed her so cruelly popped into her mind. She looked away. “I don’t know. I’ve never been interested in girls,” she said jokingly.
    He chuckled. “How disappointing! No possibility of a kinky threesome?”
    Bronwyn sent him a sharp look but managed a smile. “None. If you’re ‘in’ to kinky you’re barking up the wrong tree.”
    He studied her piercingly for a moment and finally took her hand and looped it in his arm. “You shouldn’t issue challenges like that,” he murmured, leading her to the door. “It might tempt me to have my wicked way with you and see just how far I can go.”
    Bronwyn felt a warm, tingling inside of her that she instantly recognized as arousal. It chased away the sense of alarm his teasing comment had evoked. “It wasn’t a challenge.”
    “Now, I’m disappointed.”
    “Better now than later,” Bronwyn quipped as they left her apartment and headed toward the stairs.
    “I think we should try the elevator,” Constantine said, guiding her away from the stairs. “I’m not sure you can negotiate three flights of stairs in those heels.”
    “I doubt they’ve fixed it yet,” she cautioned him. To her surprise, however, the light came on immediately.
    “Ah! Just as I thought. You were merely testing my stamina.”
    Bronwyn stared at him blankly for a moment and then chuckled. “I was not! It never crossed my mind.”
    “Then I’m rustier than I thought,” he murmured wryly, ushering her inside the cubicle when it arrived and then walking her purposefully toward the back. “And wounded that it hasn’t crossed your mind. It’s certainly crossed mine.”
    “It has?” Bronwyn asked breathlessly when he’d pressed her tightly against the rear wall of the elevator.
    He dipped his head toward hers, brushing his lips lightly across her surprise parted lips. “It has,” he assured her. “In every conceivable position and some fairly impossible ones, I’m sure.”
    As surprised as Bronwyn was, she didn’t hesitate, didn’t feel any doubts or alarm whistles. She’d spent far more time fantasizing about him, she was sure, than he had her, whatever he claimed and she didn’t think an explosion could’ve distracted her at that moment.
    His lips were cool and momentary surprise flickered through her, but she lost touch with everything the moment his mouth settled firmly over hers. Pushing upward onto her toes, she grasped the lapels of his jacket to draw herself closer to him as he deepened the kiss, thrusting his tongue into her mouth in exploration. Heat flooded her at 24
    his first intimate touch. She’d almost forgotten, she thought dimly, how very arousing the intimacy of a kiss could be, to feel his body invading her own, to take his taste and scent into herself.
    Releasing a pent up breath, she sucked on his tongue as he began to withdraw, encouraging him to stay with her, inside of her. The arms he’d settled around her tightened, drawing her closer still until she was plastered full length against him, could feel his hard erection pressed almost bruisingly against her belly.
    It fired her blood even more than the kiss and for an endless time she focused on memorizing the feel of him surrounding her, inundating her senses with his touch.
    Disappointment filled her when the elevator chimed and he slowly pulled away.
    She glanced toward the front of the elevator as the doors opened, stared blankly at it a moment, and felt amusement fill her. “We went up.”
    Constantine sent her a gleaming look of promise. Releasing her, he moved to the panel and pressed the lobby button. “In that case,” he murmured when he’d scooped her into his arms again, “we’ll have to occupy ourselves a few moments longer.”
    Bronwyn was ready for step two by the time the elevator reached the ground floor.