Key Of Valor by Nora Roberts Page A

mistake anyway. It was just that it happened so fast, and you sounded mad, and . . . your lip’s bleeding.”
    â€œI was just messing with him. And as I recall, my own mother used to say if you start all that horseplay, somebody’s going to get hurt.” He tapped a finger on his sore lip. “You people are always right, aren’t you?”
    â€œAnd now you’re trying to make me feel better.” Following her instincts, she picked up a napkin from the tray. Without thinking, she put a tip of it in her mouth to dampen it, then dabbed it on his lip. “When I walked in just now andsaw the two of you together, it was nice. You could’ve let him win, too, but you didn’t. And that’s nice, because I don’t want him growing up thinking he should always win. You’ve got to know how to lose, too, and . . .”
    She trailed off, looked down in mild horror at the cloth. She’d spat on it, for God’s sake. “Lord.” She crumpled the napkin in her hand. “That was stupid.”
    â€œNo.” Ridiculously touched, he took her hand. “That was sweet. So are you.”
    â€œNot really. Not especially. It stopped bleeding anyway. It might be a little sore for a bit.”
    â€œYou forgot a step.” He put a hand on her waist, slid it around to the base of her spine. “Aren’t you supposed to kiss it and make it better?”
    â€œIt doesn’t look so bad.” In fact it looked beautiful. He had a beautiful mouth.
    â€œHurts,” he murmured.
    â€œWell, if you’re going to be a baby about it.”
    She leaned in, intending to give that beautiful mouth a light brush. Friendly, casual. She gave it a little peck, and tried to ignore the stirring in her belly.
    He didn’t draw her closer, didn’t try to lengthen the kiss, but only held her where she was, kept his eyes on hers. “Still hurts,” he told her. “Can I have another?”
    Alarm bells were ringing, but she ignored them. “I guess.”
    She touched her lips to his again. So warm, so firm.
    With a little sound in her throat, she gave in to that stirring and traced those lips with her tongue, combed her fingers through his hair.
    Still he waited. She could feel the tension toughen his body, she could hear his breath draw in. But he waited.
    So she wrapped her arms around him and let herself sink into that warmth, that firmness, that slow and steady seduction.
    It felt so good to ride that long, liquid wave, with allthose tastes and textures. The shape of his mouth, the sensation of tongue sliding over tongue, the press of body to body.
    So many things inside her that she’d ruthlessly shut down began to churn into hot life again.
    â€œOh, God.” She moaned it, and all but slathered herself against him.
    He’d have sworn he felt the ground begin to quake under his feet. He was damn sure the world took a hard tilt that left him reeling. Her mouth had gone from light and sweet to hot and greedy, in one lurching beat of the heart.
    Desperate for more, he changed the angle of the kiss, then nipped restlessly at her bottom lip just to hear her low, throaty moan.
    When he ran his hands up her body, she stretched under them like a woman waking from a long sleep.
    Then jerked back, stared with shocked eyes toward the doorway. “Simon,” she managed, and brushed at her hair. She took another quick step back just as Simon and Moe bounced into the room.
    The boy was wearing X-Men pajamas, Brad saw. And smelled of toothpaste.
    â€œAll set?” Zoe gave her son a bright smile. The blood was still roaring in her head. “Mister, ah, Brad and I were just going to have coffee.”
    â€œYuck.” Simon walked to Zoe and tipped his head up for a kiss good night.
    â€œI’ll be in, in just a little while.”
    â€œOkay. ’Night,” he said to Brad. “We’re going to have a rematch,