Page 66 of Twist of Fate

“You wished to bathe.”

“I told you to show me.”

“I have.”

Luke stared at him. Connal’s expression remained controlled, but the desire in his eyes made the restraint almost painful to watch.

“You’re really going to make me spell this out?” Luke asked.

“I will not presume.”

The answer extinguished the last of Luke’s hesitation.

“Good.” He stepped closer. “Don’t presume. Ask.”

Connal’s gaze searched his face. “Do you want me to remain?”

“Yes.”

“Do you want me to touch you?”

Luke’s pulse accelerated. “Yes.”

Connal closed the remaining distance but did not reach for him yet. “How?”

Luke hadn’t expected the question to affect him quite so strongly. No one had ever looked at him as if the answer mattered this much.

“I don’t know yet. I want to find out.”

Some of the rigid control left Connal’s shoulders. “Then we will.”

Luke reached for the open collar of Connal’s tunic. “Any lingering damage I need to know about before I take this off?”

“I am healed.”

“That wasn’t what I asked.”

Connal considered him for a moment. “My strength has not fully returned. Nothing you do will injure me.”

“Tell me if that changes.”

“I will.”

Luke loosened the first fastening, then the next. Connal held himself still beneath his hands.

The fabric parted slowly, revealing smooth golden skin stretched over heavy muscle. A scar crossed one side of Connal’s chest, pale and old, with another disappearing beneath the remaining fabric near his ribs. Luke brushed his fingers over the first one.

Connal inhaled sharply.

“Does that hurt?”

“No.”

Luke traced the scar again. “Good.”

He pushed the tunic from Connal’s shoulders. It fell to the floor, leaving Luke free to look his fill.

Connal was built like someone who had spent centuries carrying weapons and using them. Scars marked his chest, stomach, and arms, each one evidence that even a fae warrior could bleed. Luke wanted to know where they had come from. He wanted to know whether Connal’s skin felt this warm everywhere and whether the hard lines of his body would soften beneath Luke’s hands.