Nelsin smirks. “Our plan is tight. Planning is always the easier part. The doing is where it gets hard.”
I laugh, and even though I’d like to tell him that he should dosomething elsewith Ferer, I bite down the words. All I do is takeMarlak’s hand, pull him to the hallway, then all the way to our bedroom, and close the door behind us.
He cups my face with both hands, worry clear in his eyes. “What is it?”
“I promised you something,” I whisper. Marlak narrows his eyes, his expression thoughtful, and I add, “And you forgot!”
“I did not.” And yet he stares at me with a puzzled expression that clearly contradicts his words.
“Then tell me what it is.” I dare him.
For a moment, he hesitates, then a new glint takes his eyes, and he caresses my face, padding his thumb on my lower lip. “This is the only thing I remember, but...”
He chuckles, then gives me a quizzical look. He doesn’t think I’m serious!
I return his stare not with amusement, but with a promise, my face set, doing my best not to show any sign of hesitation.
His lips part and his expression changes slowly from playful to something deep, intense, his eyes getting darker, searching into the depths of my soul, making me tremble.
I push him onto the bed. “Then sit.”
He’s eying me with either surprise or disbelief, and I really hope it’s not disbelief as I kneel before him, trying to pretend I’m more confident than I really am.
My hands are trembling as I run them under his shirt, then reach for his belt…
And he chuckles.
Great. I want to die of embarrassment.
My entire body freezes on the spot. “What’s funny?”
He caresses my hair. “Nothing’s funny. I’m happy, that’s all. So happy that I can’t contain it, and it comes out as laughter. Every second with you is an extraordinary dream. Sometimes I can’t believe I’m so lucky, azalee.” His eyes, his face, his smile bring a pleasant, soothing warmth to my heart.
“Let me guess.” I smirk. “Youdreamedabout this.”
He pinches my chin, then rubs my lips. “You guessed it right. Every night, when you were across the hall, I wanted you here, in this room. I wanted to undress you. Taste you. Claim you. Every night without you was a torture.”
“Can you imagine what would happen if I visited your room?”
“I imagined it too many times.” His voice is husky, almost rough.
And yet I won’t waste my chance to mess with him. “I bet you didn’t. Do you know what you would do?” I lean forward as he stares at me, perhaps wondering what I’m going to say or trying to find the right answer, but I don’t give him time to reply, and continue, “You’d yell at me to get out of your room and stop trying to seduce you.”
Marlak frowns as if horrified at the suggestion and, when I’m convinced he’ll deny it, he bursts into laughter. “Well, in my defense… I was an idiot.”
He pulls me onto his lap, his hands roaming my back.
“No,” I protest. “I wanted to do it like in the dream. The one under the table. Like I said I’d do.”
“It’s our first time in this bedroom, wife.” From playful, his eyes turn tender, then he rests his forehead against mine and wraps his arms tighter. “I want all of you, not just your lips.” The corner of his mouth lifts. “At least for now. Let me show you a sliver of all the things I wanted to do to you. Let me.”
When he speaks like that, he scrambles my thoughts, heats my body, makes me forget all my plans. Did I even have any plans?
I feel weightless as he lays me gently on the bed, his eyes never leaving mine as he positions himself above me.
“Let me look at you,” he whispers, his fingers finding the ties of my clothing.
I watch his face as he begins to undress me, his careful, controlled movements making my heart race. His fingers brush against my collarbone, then descend to my shirt, making my breath catch. Each string he loosens reveals more of my skin to his warm gaze, his hands caressing my exposed skin while the intensity in his eyes spreads a flush of anticipation across my body.
