Page 76 of Warrior's Captive
“So both topical and ingested,” she said.
He grinned, and it wasn’t sweet. At all.
“I’m willing to try anything at this point.”
“Are you certain?” He hesitated. “I’ll admit I thought you’d want to wait until you weren’t pregnant anymore for our. . .”
Vivian took his hand. “I’m certain.”
Tai’ri stared at her, then his expression shifted. Warmth, desire, a quick, visible battle with the edge she sometimes saw in him as he looked at her, quickly suppressed. One day, when the time was right, she’d explore that edge. Tease it to the surface. But the time wasn’t right for that side of him, not yet.
Or that answering side of her.
“Well,” Abeyya said. “I’ll check on you in an hour?”
“Really?” Tai’ri scowled at Abeyya. “Give me a little credit, Bey.” His elder sister patted his head on her way out, laughing softly.
And then they were alone.
Tai’ri looked at Vivian, then slipped a hand around the back of her neck and leaned forward, nipping her bottom lip. “I guess we’ll have to abridge the birth story until the baby is at least sixteen.”
She huffed, smiling, then hesitated. The room was beautiful and comforting, but she was beginning to feel cloistered.
“Do we have to stay inside?” Part of the reason she’d chosen this suite was for its access to a small private garden.
Tai’ri moved off the bed and came around in front of her. He took her hand, helping her stand. “No.”
They crossed the room together and entered the garden. The stone privacy wall stood at least nine feet, blanketed in an array of plants, both flowering and not. A thick carpet of not quite manicured grass cushioned her soles. Large, plump pillows sat on a low couch.
Vivian looked up, closing her eyes briefly as sunlight bathed her face in warm rays. The climate here reminded her of parts of the south in Mid North America. Tai’ri went back inside a moment, then she heard the music begin to drift out into their garden, adding to the background hum of birds and fliers.
Which made her think . . . “Do people ever look down?” she called out, opening her eyes.
He didn’t respond right away, but moments later a shimmer of air arched in a bubble from the side of the wall to the top of the stone surround, then dissipated.
“We can see through,” Tai’ri said, emerging again, “but from above it will be opaque.”
He approached with deliberate, graceful steps, gaze fixed on her face. The sunlight bounced off his hair, bringing out the subtle highlights and adding a sheen to his skin. His eyes glittered like gems and she was struck again how beautiful he was. By her own ordinariness next to him.
Vivian admitted to herself, though, thathedidn’t seem to think she was ordinary. She was coming to accept that whatever he saw in her was real to him and not just a product of their mating marks was a process.
His hands cupped her face, and he lowered his head to kiss her again, then trail his lips to her earlobe. “May I undress you?”
She wet her bottom lip and nodded. She’d already changed into a simple halter sundress, inexpensive and disposable, but pretty. Her feet were bare, and she’d forgone both bra and underwear as well.
So as his fingers slipped under the halter neck and tugged, pushing the fabric down over her body, she was completely naked underneath.
Her nipples pebbled as he stared down at her. “Beautiful,” he said. He reached behind and undid her braid, lifting the strands of her dark hair and draping it over her shoulders. “There’s never a moment I don’t want to touch you, to taste you.”
“I wasn’t ready for a long time,” she said, voice not quite steady. Her skin felt hypersensitive, her body reacting even to the faint breeze.
He lifted his gaze to hers. “I know. And now?”
“What could be more perfect than here, and now?” The fragrance of real flowers, the clarity of the sun, and the father of her child looking at her like she was his world. And could there be any reason more meaningful to make love for the first time than to aid in the birth of their child?
“Nothing more perfect,” he said.
She tugged at the hem of his fitted cotton shirt. “You’re too tall.”
