Evangeline let out a low, breathy laugh, her hands still firmly cupping his jaw. The sheer audacity of his challenge sent a thrilling, dangerous current down her spine. She wasn't going to back down. Not tonight, and certainly not to him.
"You irritating, deceitful creature," she murmured, her dark eyes glittering with a dangerous, challenging amusement.
Slowly, deliberately, she leaned in until the distance between them vanished entirely. She didn't kiss him—not yet. Instead, she parted her lips, darting her tongue out to lazily lick over her own lips, her gaze remaining locked onto his, tracking the way his pupils dilated at the gesture. She held him in that torturous, breathless suspension for a beat longer before pulling back with a triumphant smirk.
"There. I believe they are perfectly clean now."
