Page 159 of Fires of the Forsaken
He smiled.
But he also flinched when I started to get too rough. When I tugged at his shirt, desperate to touch his skin, to lick every nook and cranny of his six-pack abs. To get my hands on his bare, statue-esque ass. And to definitely, 100%, get my fingers and mouth on his,erm, more private parts.
But his small, micro-flinch brought me up short.
I wantedeverything.Like, I wanted to see if I could get him to yell.
But not because he was in pain.
And, if we kept going, he would be in pain. He’d try to hide it, sure. But he’d hurt all the same.
And rutting against the wall, while clothed, having to be careful not to hurt him…it wasn’t how I wanted to do this. Uh-uh.
I touched his chest, my palm flattened. Astopmotion.
He paused. And drew back.
“Okay, so apparently, it’s been way too long since I’ve had sex.” My laugh sounded forced, even to my own ears. “And PMSing gets my hormones all screwy. And I don’t wanna hurt you. So this has to stop here. At least until you’ve healed. But, look, I don’t want to leave you with blue—”
Cheriour’s mouth covered mine, this kiss sweet. Calming. And then he stepped back, giving me space to move away from the wall.
But, before I could crack my terrible “blue-balls” joke, Cheriour asked, “Where is your poleaxe?”
It took me a second to process that one. Because my gutter brain thought he was talking about some weird sex toy. “Er…huh?”
“Your poleaxe,” Cheriour repeated in a bored, droning tone. “Where is it?” He wasn’t even breathing heavily!
Meanwhile, I billowed like a racehorse and still daydreamed about him naked, strung up, and losing his composure.
Bad brain. Bad!!
“Um…I think it’s in my room.” I said.
“Have you cleaned or sharpened the blades?”
“Was I supposed to?”
“Yes. It does not take long for a blade to go dull. Go get it. I’ll show you how to care for it.”
“How is this what you’re thinking about right now?” I gaped at him. “What’re you, a freaking robot? You flip a switch andbam,horny time’s over?”
He gave me an unreadable look.
And I knew him well enough by now to understand what that stare meant. “Fine.I’ll go get it.” I still felt too hot. Too winded. Too scatterbrained. And he looked too goddamn composed. Ihatedthat.
I gave his ass a hard pinch as I walked by. His veryuncomposed reaction was music to my ears.
44
Freaking Stubborn, Macho Men
Cheriour was atotalsnuggle bug.
He had one leg draped over mine, his arm over my chest and his chin on top of my head. His breathfannedmy hair. Which wasnice. I loved a good cuddling session. For a while.
But now I was roasting.
Sweat dripped down my back, plastering my shirt to my skin. But Cheriour looked so freaking adorable.I didn’t want to push him off me.
