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‘Broomer—you’ve changed.’ He spoke without inflection.
She shut the door and moved to the side of the bed. She stood so close she could see the outline of his bare shoulder.
‘This thing...’ she tossed the corset over a boot stand ‘...is broken. And I do not want it repaired.’
‘What is this thing you just tossed over my boots?’
‘A noose for a woman’s stomach.’
‘They are ugly. Those nooses.’
‘I can’t breathe in it.’
‘Then I am pleased you removed it.’ His words were soft, reverent. The husky tones flowed into her skin.
‘I worried about you.’ She forced the words out. ‘You are alone, though you have brothers and a son.’
‘You needn’t concern yourself, Melina. Men are meant to be alone more than women. But I am thankful for your thoughts.’ He rolled to the side of the bed near her, took her hand and brought it to his lips, brushing a kiss along the closed fingertips. He pressed his face against her knuckles while raising his gaze.
His lips parted and sleepy eyes watched her. Tousled hair fell across his forehead. In less than a second, she locked the image into her mind.
His eyes awakened fully. He moved again, the covers rustling, and he waited.
She pulled her fingers from his grasp. His breathing changed, almost stopping. She pressed closer to the bed, her legs touching the edge. He moved back, pulling the coverings and leaving an empty space between them. His eyes flicked to the bare spot and then to her. ‘It’s still warm,’ he said.
He propped himself on one elbow—a tower of strength capturing her senses so much she couldn’t blink. His fingers—still callused from his time on the ship—clamped over hers, tugging her forward. But the burning need in his eyes drew her into the bed.
She slid into the cocoon he’d woven with the air he breathed and with the beating of his heart. He bent over her and the force of a wave crashed into her. He was muscle, strength and sinew.
‘Aphrodite has risen from the night and captured me.’ His words, roughened by emotion, rolled over her. He looked at her and pulled her deeper into his embrace. ‘Is there a reason you’ve appeared before me? A reason you’ve graced me with your presence?’ He stopped, his breath brushed her lips and her body pulsed alive.
He kissed her, a warmed brandy taste. Her hands reached out and the strength under her palms overwhelmed her senses. The power in his body caused her breath to hitch—and she wanted Warrington even closer.
He pulled back and she looked up, completely overtaken by his presence. ‘I can resist you in the daylight,’ he said, ‘but in the darkness, I believe you aren’t real. You’re a spirit to tempt me and I am in your power.’
His eyes held emotions she’d never seen before and not known existed. Any goddess would have met her match with him. He was like no mythical creature she’d ever heard of. Perhaps one had been so wily as to escape detection and did not let himself be found in any tales, and now he was before her, more compelling than any imagined.
Warrington took one finger, touching the tie of her chemise, and with a tug he unfastened the ribbon and flared the opening. He only barely brushed against her, but she responded as if she had been stone before and he woke her.
His hands slid over her breasts, caressing, sliding down, covering her hips and reaching the hem of her chemise. Reverently, he pulled the garment over her head.
Her fingertips traced the wall of his chest and the pebbled nipples. She could sense the whole of him with the barest touch. He stilled, as though the sensations overwhelmed him.
She splayed her palm, feeling the hair flattened beneath. His chest seemed to go on and on and on and on, but it was only that time had stilled, magnifying her movements, letting her experience a treasure in the feelings.
He hugged her to him, tightening her against the ridge pressing upwards between them.
She ran her fingers over his shoulders, traced his neck and stopped at the tendrils of his hair, holding him. Her movements unleashed something behind his eyes, but it wasn’t as if he turned from marble to a man—the opposite. Awareness left his face and he became controlled by passions and light and pulses.
‘Let’s forget the ship. Let this be our first time, Melina.’
He kissed her once again. All she could taste or touch or know was the overpowering awareness of his body. Her heartbeat had changed into pulsations—sensations beyond what she ever could have imagined.
