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When I was done with the buttons, we stood face-to-face; Akari in her thin, open undergarment and me still in my pants.
My erection was threatening to break the fucking seams on the damn things, but I was technically still covered.
“The water is probably warm enough now,” Akari murmured.
“I’ve got it.” I brushed my fingers slowly up the center of her body, and my cock throbbed when she took a sharp breath in, her eyes closing again.
Plugging the drain and turning down the water’s heat was simple enough, and I turned to face my female again when I’d done so.
Stars, she was fucking gorgeous.
Her eyes fluttered open as my hands met hers for a moment, and then mine slid up her arms. I still wouldn’t undress her while her eyes were closed; I didn’t want to make her afraid in any way.
Her gaze was heavy on my face as I slowly began to slide the fabric off her shoulders.
I had seen her naked before, but that had been before we kissed. Before we were friends.
Before I had real fucking feelings for her.
This would be different.
I knew it, and the way she was looking at me told me she knew it too.
The undergarment slid down her body, slowly revealing those slight, sexy curves of hers inch by torturous inch.
She was breathtaking.
I wanted her more than I wanted to keep breathing, more than I wanted to do the kingdom justice, more than I had ever wanted anything before.
Yet I couldn’t have her.
Not considering the circumstances of the last two decades of her life, or the nightmares she had about them nightly.
I had cost her everything, and while that hadn’t been my own choice, it was still my fault.
Chapter14
Akari
The way Espenlooked at me stole my breath.
Everything had changed with that kiss earlier, at least for me.
Espen was my friend… but he was also my fated mate, the literal other half of my soul.
And apparently my body now recognized that.
I wasn’t sure whether to celebrate that fact or cry over it.
Or a bit of both, maybe.
He was careful not to touch my skin when I was bare before him, his gaze somewhere between molten and silky soft.
I wished he would touch me again, though, the way he had moments earlier.
“The bath is ready.” His fingers wrapped around my elbow, his grip firm but soft.
I murmured a thank you as he helped me into the water, and then I settled into the tub.
