Page 76 of Dark Island: Rescue
Her cheeks flaming, Arezoo averted his gaze. "How do you always know?" she whispered.
"Because I pay attention." Ruvon kissed her forehead, then her nose, then her lips—soft, chaste kisses that were somehow more intimate than anything more heated. "Because I love you, and part of loving someone is protecting them and knowing what's best for them. You want to wait until we are married, right?"
She nodded. "I do, but I also want to be progressive and daring. I want to prove to myself that I'm not letting what happened control me. If I do, the monsters win, and I can't let them."
Ruvon pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her. "You are absolutely right, but that doesn't mean you have to do it all at once. Baby steps, Arezoo."
She buried her face in his chest, and he felt the warmth of her breath against his skin. The intimacy of the moment was more meaningful than physical touch. The fact that Arezoo was capable of it was proof that the monsters hadn't won.
"I want to do more than kissing," she murmured. "I want to touch you, and I want you to touch me."
"We can do that. If you wish, we can also get more inventive with the kissing."
She tilted her head and looked at him from under lowered lashes. "How?"
"Like this." He guided her to lie on the couch, following her down until he was braced above her, careful to keep his weight off her. "Promise me that if anything doesn't feel right, you'll tell me. Don't swallow your fears because you want to prove to yourself that you are brave or to please me."
Given the flash of guilt on her face, that's precisely what she'd planned to do.
"I promise."
He kissed her again, this time loosening his restraint by a notch. His tongue swept into her mouth, tasting her, exploring her. She moaned against his lips, the sound shooting straight through him like lightning, and then she lifted her pelvis, grinding her mound against his aching shaft, and he nearly came in his jeans.
He slid his hand from her waist up along her ribs, stopping just below the curve of her breast. Even through the fabric of her dress, he could feel her heart hammering.
"Still okay?" he murmured against her mouth.
"Yes." The word was breathless. "Please. More."
There was no ambiguity in her words or the tone of her voice.
Ruvon let his hand move higher, gently cupping her breast. Arezoo arched into his touch with a gasp that made his already painful arousal intensify to the point of agony. He'd been celibate throughout their time together, which was an eternity for an immortal male. His body was screaming at him to take what she wasoffering, to claim and possess and finally find relief from the agony of wanting her.
But he kept his touch gentle, exploratory, paying attention to every hitch in her breathing, every small sound she made. Learning what she liked, what made her respond, what made her flinch.
"Why are you holding back?" Arezoo asked. "I promised to tell you if I want you to stop."
"I don't have a choice." Ruvon pressed his forehead against hers, trying to regulate his breathing. "If I wasn't holding back, I'd have you naked and under me so fast that you wouldn't have time to tell me to stop."
Her breath hitched. "Maybe that's what we should do? Just let nature do her thing?"
"We've talked about that. You're not ready." He kissed the corner of her mouth and then shifted his weight, moving to lie on his side beside her instead of above her. "Are you disappointed?"
He was well aware that he was pushing boundaries by making the decisions for her, and at some point, she might realize that and tell him to stop, or worse, accuse him of being a possessive, controlling prick. But she was just nineteen, and she'd been raised sheltered and secluded from anything and everything that had to do with sex. And then she'd been kidnapped and abused. He'd rather be called names than be weak and let her do things she would later regret.
She turned on her side to face him, reaching with her fingers to trace patterns on his bare chest. "I'm not disappointed. I'm relieved and grateful."
Ruvon would take grateful, but relieved? He caughther hand, stilling its movements before she drove him completely insane. "What do you mean?"
"I wanted to be brave tonight." Arezoo's eyes met his. "But honestly? I'm still terrified. Not of you," she added quickly. "But of being reminded of when I was vulnerable in that way."
"There's nothing wrong with being scared." Ruvon brought her hand to his lips, kissing her palm. "Fear doesn't make you weak. It makes you human."
"I don't want to be human much longer," she said quietly. "I want to transition. I want to be immortal."
"There's no rush. We've waited so long, we can wait a little longer."
Arezoo's expression turned serious. "What if something happens to me? What if someone attacks me? As an immortal, I'd be so much harder to hurt. Harder to kill."
