Page 135 of Bitten & Burned
My entire body tensed, and I inhaled sharply.
His hands tightened at my waist. He looked at me like I was made of starlight.
“May I touch you?” he asked, his hands flexing at my waist. He was touching me already, but this felt like he was asking for more. “Really touch you?”
I nodded before I even had time to think.
Becauseyes.
Yes, I wanted his hands. I wanted his hands and his mouth. I wanted to feel something good. Something real. Something that wouldn’t slip through my fingers if I wasn’t holding it correctly.
He kissed me.
His mouth didn’t just brush over mine. He really kissed me. Deep and breathtakingly slow. Lips pulling at mine, leaving me no room for other interpretations, just kissing me. Wanting me. Just this.
His hands held me as if he thought I would break. And honestly? I might break. Without him to hold me together, I could very well shatter into a million pieces.
He walked me back toward the bed, giving up on walking a few steps in and bending to scoop me up, his lips never leaving mine as he strode over to the bed. He set me down gently on the edge of the bed—and then, he knelt.
Heknelt.
Not to beg, like Vael needed to.
Not to worship, like Anton did.
Not to supplicate, like Quil.
Not even to mend, like Cassian.
Tohonor.
His hands went to the buttons on my blouse. He undressed me slowly, folding each piece neatly before moving on to the next. His hands treated me with the same care. Like I was made of silk, fragile and prone to tearing.
He kept at it until I was wearing only my slip shorts, quivering before him on his bed.
He kissed me again. “You’re trembling.”
“I’m scared,” I admitted.
“Of me?” he asked.
“Ofme,” I replied. “Of how badly I want you right now.”
“Well, let me make it good. So you forget to be scared. Just say the word. I’ll give you everything. You want me as much as you want, and I’ll give you everything.”
I swallowed thickly, my eyes boring into his. “Please.”
He made a low sound that could have been a growl. It rumbled and touched me, made me clench again as he tugged down on my slip shorts. He slowly dragged them down my legs, extending one leg over his shoulder before finally pulling them off, dropping them on the floor somewhere.
I didn’t see where they went, and I sort of lost all desire to care when he started kissing his way up my leg.
He kissed my calf, the back of my knee, up my inner thigh. The burn in my wound eased under the press of his mouth, dulled by the heat of his kisses—until he was a breath away from where I truly needed him.
“You’re still shaking. I haven’t even touched you yet.”
“Oh, you haven’t touched me yet?” I asked, smiling softly. Teasing.
He grinned, pushing my thighs apart.
