And I was about to prove it to him.
More than anything, I wanted to feel him come alive beneath my touch. I wanted to feel his breath wash across my lips and his heart pound against mine. I wanted his blood to rush in his veins, and for him to feel high without having to kill to do it. I wanted him to feel so human that he felt…vulnerable, but still safe with me.
A pained sound reverberated in his throat, but it seemed like my words wrapped around him and pulled him forward, closer to me. He ran a finger from my knee to my thigh, circling the garter.
My breath rushed out, and I shivered from his touch. But my eyes were still locked on his as he took a knee in front of me and slowly inched the lacy fabric down. He slid it over my foot before setting it on the bed. He removed both of my heels, setting them to the side.
He stood to his full height and disappeared into the bathroom. I heard the shower come on, and steam billowed out once the water got hot enough. He appeared in a cloud of it, nodding to the bathroom. He waited for me to walk past him before he stepped behind me. I faced the mirror, his body behind mine.
“I’m going to need some help with the dress. Beatrice strapped me in pretty good.”
His eyes turned down to the back of the dress, studying it before he started to release me from it. My breath rushed out as it fell to the floor. He picked it up right after, almost reverently, and hung it on the hanger it had been on before.
With his back to me, I had a feeling his eyes were taking in the gown. It was confirmed when they stilled on the hem. Where the blood stains were. It was clear they were not fresh, but from long ago. It was almost rust colored.
“Cian,” I whispered.
Stay with me, stay with me, stay with me,I almost chanted.
He shook his head and turned to face me. All I had on was the lacy white garments that went underneath the dress. His eyes lowered and heated when he took my body in. They caught fire when I fully undressed and stood before him naked.
I felt okay in my skin. Delaney had always told me I was perfect as is, and if a guy couldn’t accept me, flaws and all,away with him anyway. But I felt a little different when Cian stared at me.
I wanted him to want me—want me as much as I wanted him. So much I could barely stand it. Like my heart wanted to claw out of my body so he could have it.
He took one step, two, until his body almost touched mine. The steam from the shower made the blood on his skin turn to liquid again, and it was dripping down his face. It made him look animalistic, feral, but it still couldn’t touch his eyes.
How lost he was inside of mine.
His hand came up and loosened my hair. It cascaded down my shoulders in soft waves. He set his hand underneath and buried his fingers in it. His hold wasn’t painful, but I felt it…how much he wanted to devour my mouth.
“Maeve,” he ground out. “Intoxicatin’”
It could have been the humidity in the bathroom filling my lungs and making it hard to breathe, but I knew it was him.
No, it wasus.
This moment.
Especially when he undressed the entire way and stood naked in front of me.
We couldn’t take our eyes of each other.
In the office, when I’d gotten his shirt off, I’d only uncovered half the art. He was all bold bones and strong muscle—and his face? It was gorgeous, but there was something wild about it. Like his spirit. It was untamed in a way I noticed Ireland was.
I sighed. No book had ever captured what I was seeing in person.
My eyes were steady on his until he took me by the hand and led me into the shower. It had two heads, water spraying from each side, and he stepped into one as I stepped into the other.
Our eyes couldn’t seem to let go.
I could tell, though, that he was eager to wash the blood off.
Me too.
He turned and my eyes narrowed. One of those Celtic crosses was done in ink and covered almost his entire back. But what caught my attention was the date at the bottom. It reminded me of a gravestone.
There was so much I still had to learn about the man standing in front of me.
