“No, usually when I want to be polite, I tell them I’ve never done anything like that before, you know?” Daniel’s eyes locked with hers, a dangerous mix of confidence and heat in his gaze that made her inhale slower than usual.

“Yeah, I was thinking that must be the case when I felt how dusty you must have been,” Juniper said, watching his reaction.

Daniel’s head turned, his expression so deliberately blank it would have drawn a crowd, then his eyes found hers again as a confident smile spread across his face. He leaned back, one arm stretched along the couch behind her, his chest angling closer. “Yeah, you know how it is…” The words carried a hint of lazy challenge as he studied her through half-lidded eyes.

“Do I?” Her own smile tugged at her lips as she met his gaze, her eyes widening with a mix of challenge and delight.

“Oh, so you’re just disrespecting my puppet I see?” His confident smile made her pulse race as he leaned a bit back from her.

“No,” she paused, then looked up at him through her lashes, “that’s… what I want to do.” The words slipped out sideways before she could catch them. A smirk played across her lips even as heat bloomed in her cheeks, and she turned her head away, suddenly unable to meet his intense stare.