Page 98 of The Mech Who Loved Me
"It's cold," shewhispered.
"I'll warm you up." The dress slipped from her arms and shoulders, curling around her feet. "And if you're thinking about the cold, then I'm clearly not doing my jobcorrectly."
Helping her to step out of the discarded dress, he turned her around with an appreciative little twirl. "Mmm. This needs to go." Crinoline and petticoats both fell prey to his deft fingers. Ava shivered as he captured her waist and kissed the smooth slope of her upper breasts. Her corset clasped at the front, and he laid waste to it, tossing it aside and running his hands up to cup her unboundbreasts.
Finally, all that remained were her chemise and stockings. Ava could feel chill fingers of wind sliding straight through her chemise, but the look in Kincaid's eyes heated her within. Her nipples were cool, hard pebbles behind the fabric. He circled her slowly, fingertips trailing across the back of her hip. "Strip," hetoldher.
A thousand doubts sprang to mind; her scar, her small breasts, the way she'd be completely vulnerable to his gaze. What if he found herlacking?
"I believe I gave you an order," he whispered, moving behind her and tugging the pins fromherhair.
Ava slowly slid her chemise off one shoulder, trembling a little. This was Kincaid. He never made her feel doubt, but her breath caught. "Are youcertain?"
"I want to touch you all over," Kincaid breathed, capturing her waist and pressing against her so she could feel the steel of his erection. "I want to taste every inch of you. So yes, Ava. I want you naked. I want all of you. I want you to be mine, and I intend toclaimyou."
Her chemise ghosted down her body, and Kincaid sucked in a sharp breath. His hand slid up her stomach, capturing her breast. Ava moaned a little, and then he was pressing a kiss to the back of her neck, biting herthere.
Suddenly she was no longer so shy. All she felt was need, her vision going dark as the hungerroused.
Kincaid gathered her in his arms and laid her upon his fur-lined cloak. Lantern light gilded his shoulders, and Ava ran her hands up his chest as he knelt over her, pressing a kiss to her collarbone, then her breast, then her nipple. The shock of his mouth made her cry out, and he made good on his promise to taste her all over, spreading her thighs and dipping down to spear his tongue into the thatch of blonde hair there, until she was no longer thinking about her nakedness or vulnerability, lost to sensation as he lapped and teased at her until shescreamed.
"How do you do that to me?" she gasped, running her hands through his hair as he kissed his way back up her body, tracing his tongue over the long scar between her breasts. It was so unbearably sensitive, she had to pull hisfaceaway.
"I love hearing you cry out," hewhispered.
Cool air kissed her skin. Ava dragged her fingertips along the hard line of his jaw, tracing that familiar stubble. She could see the stars over his shoulders, though most of Kincaid was a shadowy outline now. One of the lanterns nearby had faded. Without his expression, she was limited to communication through touch, or whisperedwords.
But she didn't feel like speakingrightnow.
"You frightened me," he whispered, nipping at her fingertips. "I've been trying not to think about it, but seeing you like that... coming so close tolosingyou—"
"You didn't lose me." Ava captured his face in both hands, a glint of light turning his eyes silver. She couldn't read his thoughts in them. "But it frightened me too. There's so much I haven't done. So much I haven't seen, or felt." Ava brushed her lips against his, a sweet caress. "And thank you, I needed this. I wanted it to be you. I wanted you to be myfirst."
She didn't dare say,andlast.
He wouldn't like that, and she didn't want to complicate things—they'd agreed, damn it—but there was a little part of her that could imagine a life with Kincaid byherside.
Long, slow kisses every morning when they woke; a man who championed her at all times, encouraging her to speak her mind and step outside the laboratories where she felt her safest; seeing his face light up in a smile when she first stepped into a room; having him tease her and whisper naughty words inherears.
Silence greeted her words, a drawn-out silence in which she thought they were bothholdingback.
"Don't ever forget me, Ava," he finally whispered, and there was the answer to her unspokenquestion.
This wasn't going to go any further, and a part of hergrieved.
"I don't think I ever could," she admitted.I never expected you to come into my life like this. I never....Her heart felt like it was in her throat.I never realized how much I want youtostay.
His face slowly lowered, his breath stirring over her lips. And then hekissedher.
Gently.
So softly the ache of denial made her moan and arch up into him. She'd asked for fleshly pleasure, for him to make her a woman, but what she hadn't expected in this moment was connection ortenderness.
Kincaid was charming, and brash, and loud. Everything about him was physical, from the way he flung his arms wide when they argued, to the way he pushed her against a wall and claimed her mouth when hekissedher.
But this... there was a hesitancy here. As though he wanted to say something, and yet couldn't quite bring himself todoit.
"Liam." A sigh of surrender onherlips.
