Free The Sweetest Taboo by Alison Kent

came a little too close to getting into her mind. And it wasn’t her mind into which he wanted to find himself buried an hour from now.

    When she reached for a book to pull from the shelf, he pushed away from the door and made his way to her side. To her back, actually, hovering in a way he figured she’d respond to as threatening. His portrait on the back of his book jackets was shadowed and dim, but he didn’t want to take a chance on her pulling the copy of The Demon Takes a Lover from its slot on the next shelf above.

    For a moment she hesitated. Then she slid the book she’d removed back into its place. After that, she waited, her eyes drifting closed as she blew out a long breath that Sebastian took to mean she was ready. He lifted the strap of her backpack from her shoulder and set the heavy canvas tote on the floor. Then he settled his hands on her shoulders, replacing the weight of her backpack with the weight of his touch.

    She smiled, a gentle expression he felt in places he wasn’t supposed to feel a thing. And her eyes were still closed when she raised her hands to cover his there where they rested. “Are you going to show me the rest of your place?” she asked, turning in his arms as she did.

    He took a step away. Instinct told him she’d been but a moment from rising up for his kiss. The kiss in the mailroom had been calculated and of purpose. To gauge her intent and reaction, her willingness of body, her state of mind.

    But he’d succeeded on one or two of the levels because he’d been the one caught off guard. So, no more kisses for now. Not until he had a better handle on where she was coming from. “There’s not much left to see. Nothing more than the kitchen, the bedroom and the bath. And the cat,” he added, as Redrum skulked passed.

    Erin’s gaze followed the black cat until the arrogant fur ball disappeared into the kitchen. The she looked his direction again, a tiny smile tilting at the corner of her mouth.
    “I know this is going to sound strange, but I would kill for a hot shower before we, uh, do what you’ve promised we’re going to do.” She gave a small shrug. “It’s the bar. The smoke. And, yes. I sweat while I’m working.”

    He’d tasted her sweat there on her neck and caught the scent of smoke in hair that smelled of rich herbs. Both had been noticeable, but neither overpowering, appealing to his enjoyment of Erin as a woman.

    But the thought of seeing her naked under his shower appealed even more. She could never know how much.

    “That’s not a problem,” he said, gesturing toward the back of the loft. “And not even any killing involved.”

    “Well, my bark is really much worse than my bite,” she said and fell into step beside him.

    They avoided his dump of a kitchen and she didn’t say a word as she took in the state of his bedroom, the way he’d tossed his comforter up over his bottom sheet and called it making his bed. The pile of worn clothing he hadn’t yet taken to the laundry. The notebooks and papers and research texts scattered across his workstation that took up more room than the bed.

    A quick glance reassured him nothing she could see would reveal his identity. No, she remained silent, pensive, at least until she got her first look at his bathroom.

    Then her jaw totally dropped.

    It took her at least a full minute of looking around to find her voice, or to decide what it was she wanted to say. Sebastian understood her awe. He’d felt much the same speechless amazement when he’d finally seen the finished design of his dream the first time.

    She covered her mouth with both hands, shaking her head as she looked around the room of chrome and etched glass and black-flecked gray marble. The sleek, onyx floor had her toeing off her work shoes to indulge in the coolly sleek surface.

    “And I thought my bathroom decadent.” She shook her head. “This is amazing. No, hedonistic. I may never want to leave.” She ran the tip of one