Page 94 of Wild Flame

I dipped a small cloth in the water and began lathering it up with the soap. Malik leaned forward. I set to work, running the cloth over his smooth skin and trying not to notice anything else.

When I was finished, Malik murmured, “Now the front.” I stared at him. “If you please,” he added.

He leaned back again, and I could feel his eyes on me as I slid the cloth along one tattooed shoulder and down over his chest. That heated gaze had my breath faltering and my hand hesitating before it moved lower.

“Careful, love,” his deep voice warned, “or you’ll give me ideas.”

My blush deepened. I was still by no means an expert at this, so I decided to brazen my way through it. “I can see that,” I replied, pointedly glancing below the water.

Warmth sparkled through me at his deep chuckle in response. “This is my constant state whenever I get anywhere near you, siren.”

“Stop teasing me,” I scolded. I refused to meet his eye as I once again lathered the soap with the cloth.

“It’s the truth,” he stated casually. “From the moment I saw you lying there in the garden,” his hand rose from the water to tug on a dangling strand that had escaped my braid, “. . . even before, I wanted you.”

“You can’t say things like that,” I protested, though I wasn’t sure why. His words made my heart skip and the blood in my veins come to life. I plopped the soap in the water so it splashed him.

“Why not?” He smiled, wiping a hand down his face. “Is there something wrong with a king seducing his queen?”

I raised a brow in mock challenge. “Is that what you are doing?” I inquired, not sure where this sudden confidence had come from.

His smirk grew as a mischievous light entered his eyes. “Well, if you can’t tell, then I will just need to work a little harder.”

Without warning, his big body moved, and a hard arm was suddenly hooked around my waist. I cried out, dropping the cloth and the next thing I knew I was being pulled—nightdress and all—into the tub.

I gasped as warm water soaked me. “Malik!” I cried.

But my lovelyhusbandjust chuckled and held me tightly to his chest.

I scowled at him. “This is my only nightgown,” I huffed, pulling back.

“Is it?” he mused, but his tone was distracted.

I followed his gaze and saw the white fabric was no impediment to his burning stare, as he could now clearly see the lines of my body through the wet material. His hand lifted, and he stroked a thumb across one hard nipple.

I sucked in air at the sharp bolt of desire that raced through me at the contact. Slowly, leisurely he played with it. Then his hot gaze met mine. Leaning down, he sucked my nipple through the wet cloth into his waiting mouth.

The scorching heat of his tongue was like a brand against my skin, and I arched unconsciously into him as his teeth nipped at the stiff peak, my knees falling to either side of his hips below the water.

“I missed this,” he confessed in a ragged breath, pulling at the neckline of my gown and licking a trail over and between the swells of my breasts. “One taste of you was not enough.” His other hand sank under the water and pulled at the clinging cloth tangled around my lower body, freeing me.

“If I recall,” I swallowed thickly, trying to focus as I responded, “you h-had several . . . uh . . .tastesof me that night.”

He chuckled in that roughly seductive voice. “It wasn’t nearly enough.” His hand slid up my thigh and probed at my center.

I gasped.

“If I had my way, and we hadn’t been interrupted, I would have kept you in our rooms for days until I had thoroughly ravished you.” He licked my throat. “Memorized every inch of you.”

Realms!I wasn’t much for cursing, even in my own head, but this man . . .

His fingers plunged deeper, and I slid my own into his hair, clutching at the nape of his neck. He pulled me down for a kiss as his hand continued working between my legs.

I returned his kiss with all the hunger and need he roused in me, my mind feeling like it was lost in a fevered haze. Every part of me felt hypersensitive. Aware. The cool air was a teasing balm against my skin as I rose slightly in and out of the water. Pulses of liquid heat shivered through me as my core tightened.

Then he suddenly paused and his hands shifted to my hips. “Take a deep breath,” he ordered against my lips.

“Wha—ohh!” My question turned into another gasp as he sank me down onto his length. He was big enough, and this was still new enough that there was more than a slight sting as my bodyadjusted to the invasion of his. His hands cupping and pinching my breasts and his sinful mouth sucking and kissing me all over, dominating my mouth, soon had me forgetting any discomfort.

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