“Sweet Jesus!”
Lee smiled against her leg. “You’ve definitely been dating the wrong guys,” he murmured, before letting his teeth graze over the sensitive skin.
“Oh. God… You’ve got to stop,” Wren panted.
He kissed her flesh once more, and before he could do it again, Wren reached down and gripped him by the shirt. In an instant, she was back in his arms, and in another, he felt her hands on the flesh of his stomach, and it was his turn to moan. She pressed into him so that he knew to roll onto his back, and then she straddled him.
Even fully clothed, he could feel her heat again, and his breath went shallow.
Wren began unbuttoning his shirt, and it fell open to reveal his tattoo. She looked down at it before glancing back at him with a questioning smile. “Any regrets?”
“Hell, no,” he said with conviction. “Best decision I ever made.”
Her smile grew, though she seemed to try to hide it.
Lee reached up and took the bottom button of her shirt between his fingers. He locked eyes with her and gave her every opportunity to say no, but she only held his gaze, steady, if not quite sure.
He undid the first button…
Taking his time, waiting patiently at each to give her the chance to protest, Lee made it to the top and then ran his fingers down her adorned sternum, hints of reds and oranges peeking between the edges of the fabric.
At his touch, Wren slowly closed her eyes. Even though she sat astride him, she was still too far away.
Lee pushed himself up and kept her in his lap. He freed her shoulders from her shirt, and the words freed themselves. “My God, you are so beautiful.” His voice sounded strange to his ears. Deeper, more animal.
Her bikini top still covered her, but seeing the beauty of her body and her art was like a religious experience. A phoenix rose between her breasts, its wings disappearing behind the triangles of her top. The phoenix’s tail segmented into elaborate swirls of flame, dark red and black. Sparks from the left side of the tail became the Red-winged Blackbirds Lee had seen before. Embers on the right grew into branches and cherry blossoms on her tree. The transition from earthly to mythical was seamless, flawless.
Lee reached behind her neck and grasped the tie of her bikini. “May I?”
Wren nodded, but when she raised her hands to lift her hair, Lee saw that she trembled. Instead of releasing the tie, he pulled her to him and kissed her again. He kissed her lips… and her chin… and her jaw… and her neck…
“When you’re ready,” he murmured against the slope of her neck. “You untie it.”
At his words, her hands cupped his face, and she brought him back to her lips. She kissed him fiercely, and he let his hands roam her back. When she pulled back, Wren swept up her blue-black hair in one hand and pulled the tie with the other. She caught the fabric at her breasts and kept them covered.
Lee could see now the phoenix wings spanning the top of each breast and how, just like from the tail, embers soared up from its wingtips. Heat from the mythical creature seeming to create an updraft for another stunning bird Lee didn’t recognize. It was the most colorful creature he’d ever seen with a red face, a green head and wings, a purple chest, and a light blue tail. This beauty soared above her right breast.
By contrast, a speckled wren, simple and earthy, hid in the hollow of a nest above her left, one eye peering out onto the world. The detail of the feathers struck him. The bird looked wet, its down almost fuzzy as it took shelter.
Lee felt the urge to reach out and touch it. He found himself moving slowly so that he wouldn’t spook the frightened bird. When his fingers settled on her skin, Wren sucked in a jagged breath, and he looked up into her eyes to find her surprised.
She didn’t have to explain that her ink told a story. Somehow, the phoenix connected everything. She’d been burned to ashes, and she lived to tell the tale. But Lee could see she was still that frightened bird.
He felt himself smile, because if she’d let him get this close, they had a chance.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
THE ROOM WASso bright, and she had no place to hide. Lee’s eyes seemed to consume her.
“I love them all, but this one’s my favorite,” Lee whispered before kissing the wren over her heart.
It was the least sexy, the least colorful of her tattoos, but when he kissed it, her heart skittered. Wren swallowed at the sensation. “Why is it your favorite?” she managed, trying to force down her fear.
Lee’s eyes shifted up to hers, but his lips never left her skin. “Because it’s honest.”
She sucked in a breath before recovering. “They’re all honest.” It was true. All of her tats meant something, even if she was the only one who knew their secrets.
A smile pulled at the corner of his mouth. “It’s the most honest.”
