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A groan slipped from him.
“So many muscles,” she continued. “No lasting scars because of your immortality, but oh, oh, oh, what do we have here?” She waggled her brows and waved a finger to indicate his lower body. “From the waist down, you are covered in tattoos, and I need study time. Extra credit. Maybe answers, too.” Excitement laced her tone. “No images, only symbols and text. Why? Are they names?”
A clipped nod. “I’ll tell you about the names later. My reason for branding myself will ruin the mood.”
“Counterpoint. Nothing can ruin the mood.”
Oh, really? “They are the names of the brothers and sisters I’ve lost in battle. Including the ten. I hoped to honor their sacrifice for our people.”
“Okay. The mood is ruined.” She lowered her head and raised her hands, resting her face against her palms. Then she pressed her forehead against his chest.
He clasped her wrist, then hooked two fingers under her chin, forcing her gaze to lift. “Let’s see if we can un-ruin it, yes?”
She nibbled on her bottom lip but nodded.
“Did I mention that you…Desdemona Anastasia,”—he motioned to the amazingly detailed jungle scene etched into her flesh— “are the sexiest piece I’ve ever beheld?”
Those long-lashed hazel eyes widened with surprised euphoria. “You did, but I’m expecting you to tell me at least five times a day from now on.”
How long was “from now on?”
“Want to hear something funny? Well, boo-hoo funny,” she corrected. “You are the first person to compliment me in years.”
Truly? “The males in your life are fools.”
Preening, she told him, “I guess sleeping with you was inevitable. Because you are the sexiest piece I’ve ever beheld. When you broke into my bathroom, I considered jumping your bones.”
He detected no lie. Fox had wanted him from the start? His head spun.
Inner shake. Concentrate! Before they could be together, he had to explain the rules—to them both. Voice firm, he said, “We’ve called a temporary truce, though you still wish to escape. I still can’t let you. Therefore, the times you aren’t under my direct supervision, you’ll be returned to the dungeon. If my leaders refuse to pardon you, allowing you to work with us…” What will I do then? “We’ll have to come to some other arrangement. Are these terms acceptable?” Please, be acceptable.
“Let’s see if I can read between the lines,” she said. “We’re sleeping together to preempt regret, not for any other reason, and I shouldn’t get my hopes up that you’ll ever develop feelings for me?”
Perceptive Fox strikes again. “Exact—” He pressed his lips together, going silent as a foul taste coated his tongue. Apparently, he wasn’t sleeping with her simply to prevent regret.
A pause laden with tension stretched into what felt like days, weeks. Peering at him through the thick shield of her lashes, she quietly asked, “Did you redecorate your bedroom to impress me?”
Yes, but also to make her more comfortable. However, admitting the truth would be foolish. Remaining silent, he entered the shower stall and turned a knob, water gushing from the showerhead. Steam billowed, reminding him of early morning fog.
Fox followed him in, but stopped on the other side of the waterfall. At first, they remained immobile, staring at each other. Then, she made a move, reaching through the water to run her hands over his wings, ruffling the feathers.
Another groan slipped from him, his mind momentarily engulfed by bliss.
“Rumor claims a Sent One’s wings are an erogenous zone,” she said, sounding enchanted.
“You heard correctly.” The fact that she didn’t know for sure… “You’ve never been with anyone like me before?”
“Nope. You’re my first.”
And your last. The possessive thought rooted him in place. Possessive, yes, but also dark. If his leaders voted to end her rather than save her, he would be her last everything.
His chest did that awful clenching thing.
“By the way,” she said with a teasing smile, scrambling his thoughts. “Don’t think I’ll be easy to please just because I’ve gone five hundred years without sex.” As she stepped under the water, soaking her hair, the dirt washed from her skin. “I’m really good at pleasuring myself.”
That visual… He sucked in a mouthful of air. Fox, naked and in bed, working her clitoris and thrusting her fingers as deep as possible.
The visual would be forever branded into his mind. “I will watch you do this. Later.”
“Oh, you will, will you?” she purred.
“I will.” Nothing would stop him. “And you’ll love every second of it.”
“How about you make me love every second of this shower? Let’s stop eye-banging and start banging-banging.”
Yes! Satisfaction poured through him, eroding any lingering resistance. Gripping her by the hips, he spun her around and tugged her backward, pressing her spine against his chest. He’d been celibate for a year, every new touch was overwhelming. Too much, but also somehow not enough.
With his lips hovering directly over her ear, he whispered, “My bold little vixen loves her pleasures.”
“She does, she really does,” she replied, with a throaty voice. He snickered, then he got to work, shampooing and conditioning her hair. Next, he sudsed his hands with soap to wash the rest of her. She was so soft yet strong. So perfect. Every point of contact magnified his lust until need utterly consumed him. A bead of precum glistened on the head of his shaft.
“Unfortunately,” he said, “I bathed before I came to you. We’ll have to shower again, so you can wash me.”
“Deal.” She leaned into his every touch, her eyelids heavy and hooded, her lips parted. Lips he wanted wrapped around his erection… Soon, she began to pant.
For too many years, Bjorn had despised being touched by anyone other than Thane and Xerxes. The only people in existence who understood his inner torment, because they’d lived through the nightmare, too. Once he’d begun to crave human contact again, he’d wanted to inflict pain, not pleasure, and the guilt had eaten him alive. Here, now, with Fox, the woman he should enjoy harming, he only wanted to pleasure. I am some kind of messed up.
Perhaps parts of him had finally healed?
Reeling again. If she agreed to be with him merely to manipulate his emotions… He stiffened. I’ll bear those wounds all over again. “Before, I told you not to tell me why you decided to break your sexual fast with me. Now, I have to know.”
“Because I like you, okay? You’re the most amazing man I’ve ever met.”
Again, he detected no lie. He marveled, his shaft pulsing with so much force, he feared he might come. For the most amazing woman to consider him the most amazing man—was there any finer compliment?
“You are already clean,” she said, anticipation crackling in her tone, “so how about we get you dirty?” She spun and wound her arms around his neck. Enlarged pupils. A reaction she couldn’t fake. “I want my hands all over you.”
Control fraying… Waterdrops clung to her lashes. Rapture flushed her cheeks. Not kicking her legs apart and plunging inside her, required every ounce of his might. How tight would she be? How wet? “Touch me anywhere you desire.” He rubbed the pad of his thumb along the seam between her lips. “With us, nothing is taboo.”
“Good to know.” She melted into him, a wanton smile nearly unmanning him. “I think I’ll start with your lips.”
As she rose to her tiptoes, he bent his head. Their mouths met, and he opened up, greeting the thrust of her tongue with one of his own. They kissed and kissed and kissed, all thoughts drowning as wave after wave of heat and yearning flooded him.
Bjorn walked her backward and pressed her against the wall, or rather, the wing he wrapped around her, ensuring she didn’t get cold. He fisted a lock of her hair and tilted her head farther back, deepening the kiss. With his free hand, he cupped the underside of her knee and lifted her leg. He placed her foo
t on the bench beside them and spread her legs, leaving her open to him.
Shivers rocked her. A frenzy overtook him, spurring him on. Need more. Now! He kissed her harder, faster. From a slow, drugging exploration to a wild, wicked devouring. When she scoured her nails down his spine and gripped his ass to yank him ever closer, the pace of the kiss accelerated yet again.
When he shifted, the tip of his shaft brushed against her core. She released a plaintive moan, and he hissed, his blood running hot. Boiling. Sweat beaded on his brow. He needed this woman in ways he’d never dreamed possible. Growls percolated in his chest. Had he ever enjoyed a female’s reactions more?
“You are”—everything—“exquisite.” He ground his aching length between her legs. At the same time, he cupped her breasts. Kneading the giving flesh, pinching her nipples, he licked and sucked his way down her neck, where he flicked his tongue over her racing pulse.
