“I know.” I may not have had sex before, but Ihadread enough books to at least understand the physicality of it.
“The second,” he continues, slanting his mouth over mine, “is that I have been taking a preventative tonic. But that changes nothing. I’ll come when and where you tell me to.”
Gods above.
“I want you everywhere.”
His smirk is entirely devious as he lifts both arms, bending one and grabbing the back of his collar to pull his shirt off in one swift motion. Words leave me, my mind completely blank, as I stare at the expanse of his tanned skin. My fingers trace over him, moving down his collarbone and lower until they dip into every curve and divot of his abdomen. His sharp inhale fuels my desire to explore him further.
“I can’t believe you are mine,” I whisper.
Nox smiles before leaning in to kiss me again. “I am yours, and you are mine.” I reach back to begin unbuttoning my top, but he halts my hands and replaces them with his own. His voice is a midnight caress against my skin as he murmurs, “I have thought of undressing you slowly more times than I care to admit.”
Then he begins to do just that, popping each button free of its loop one at a time. The pace is torturous, and I would think that, as he releases me from the confines of the top, it would get easier to breathe. However, when he reaches the last button, air feels impossible to pull into my chest.
Mistaking my anticipation for nervousness, Nox freezes. “Tell me to stop.”
I kiss him hard until he groans, encouraging him to keep going. When the last button is undone, with delicate slowness, he slides the straps of my top down—farther and farther—until I can pull my arms through them, and then he tosses the garment to the floor. I become acutely aware of how naked I am, as if there is a way to become evenmoreso.
There is nothing to hide behind, and as he takes me in, I hold my breath and hope that, when reality crashes into the fantasy of me he has in his head, I will live up to the expectation.
Chapter Twenty-Five: Rhea
Nox’s breath quickens, myexposed skin warming everywhere he paints his sultry gaze over it.
“You are…” He shakes his head as if the right words simply don’t exist.
I see them, though, in his eyes. The reverence. The longing. The love. Wrapping an arm around my back, he draws me forward until our naked skin is pressed together. My fingers dive back into his hair, the soft strands still damp from his showerrustling between them. He kisses me again, the feel of it still hungry and laced with need but also sweeter. More exquisite.
“That night at the river,” he breathes, his lips ghosting over my own, “took everyounceof willpower I possess. You looked so beautiful bathed in the moonlight, and all I could think about was hearing my name cross your lips in ecstasy.”
“It would have been the wrong one,” I tease. He captures my mouth again, my words melting into a moan that he eagerly devours.
“Were I a lesser man, I would not have cared,” he whispers when we part.
I press myself somehow closer, a rush of warmth gathering at my core when I feel how hard he is. “Were you a lesser man, I would not be sodesperatelyin love with you.”
Nox leans back to let his hooded gaze roam my face, his subtle exhale dancing across my lips. His expression is one of awe—as if what I’ve said has unearthed something buried deeply within him.
“I will never tire of hearing you say that.”Turning, he holds me to him while moving us farther up the bed. With heart-piercing slowness, he lowers me down, his hips settling between my widened legs and his chest perfectly brushing against mine until my nipples peak from our closeness. Gently, he brushes the hair from my face before leaning down to kiss my forehead, my cheeks, my nose, and then finally my mouth.
It is silly to think that this moment might be one that could heal some of the things I feel about myself. The self-loathing. The unbearable guilt. Yet, as he continues to kiss me like I’m precious, his breathing just as unsteady as my own, I wonder if itcouldbe.
“Where do you want me to touch you?” His fingers glide down my neck and across my collarbone, a tingling sensation following in their wake.
My eyes flutter closed, words slow to come to me, but I only need to say one. “Everywhere.”
Nox makes a noise low in his throat, pressing himself into me at the same moment his hand drags over one of my breasts. It’s guttural, the sensation that floods me as I dig my nails into his back. He slides down my body, the heat of his breath cascading past my neck and then my shoulders. When his lips skim over my nipple once, twice, before closing over it completely, all while he flicks his thumb over the other one, my body succumbs completely to his touch. He moans into my skin, the vibration of it paired with the sliding of his tongue turning my breath staccato.
He kisses his way over to my other side, showing that half as much delicious attention as the first while his hand glides down my stomach, moving over the bunched skirt still at my hips and pausing when his fingers skim the waistband of my undergarments. He doesn’t stop the movement of his mouth, but I can practicallyfeelthe silent question he’s asking.
“Yes,” I groan, and that’s all he needs for his fingers to dive beneath the thin lacy fabric.
He brushes them gently over the sensitive bundle of nerves, blood rushing to my ears as I fixate on his touch. It’s the same but alsomuchdifferent from the feel of my own hand. I make a strangled noise when he does it again and again, my stomach clenching low and tight. His mouth leaves my body with a softpop, the cool air stinging my skin.
“Rhea, look at me,” he rasps, the sound as tormented as I feel because asking me to do anything right now seems impossible. But I manage to open my eyes and arch my neck, meeting his heated gaze. “I want to watch your face when I find out how wet you are for me.” Then his finger slips lower until it’s pressing right at my entrance. He gently swipes through me, just dipping in enough to gather some of my arousal before bringingit back up, where he begins to move his finger in a tantalizing circle. Nox groans, his forehead falling to my chest as he kisses me there. “Everything about you is so much better than I ever dreamed it would be.”
His praise lights me from within, rousing my magic and making it hum in response. I drag my nails up his back and neck until I’m once more gripping his hair, holding onto him as an anchor for fear I might otherwise float away. My panting breaths seem to echo off the walls, and I briefly wonder if I’m doing enough. If I’m doing thisright.
