"And what, pray tell, exactly do you mean by that?" I asked, but I knew the answer. I could hear my voice slightly quivering, and my heart pounding against my ears. Not due to fear, but something I was ashamed to admit.
Hale prowled across the room in a blink of an eye, his hungry look nearly setting me ablaze.
"I mean," he growled, though it wasn't an angry, threatening sound at all, "that I want you, Amara."
The sound of my name on his lips nearly sent me spiraling. That voice, that rumbling, gravelly voice, muddied my thoughts until I almost couldn't see straight.
He stood in front of me, not daring to touch me just yet. I looked up at him with wide eyes.
This man wanted me? This man, carved from marble by the gods, wanted someone as plain as me? I was shocked. My mouth went dry,
