She thought of the half-packed bags on the nest and fought the urge to cry again. “Don’t we have to finish packing?”
“I’ll finish,” he told her, as immovable as ever. “You’ll sleep. Now, bath or shower?”
“Bath, please.” Atria sucked in a deep breath of his scent. Even when everything else felt wrong, that was still right.
She pressed a small kiss to his pulse, comforting herself with touch. Whispering against his skin, she asked, “Will you join me?”
Kaz’s arms tightened around her. “Always.”
ChapterForty-Three
Kaz sankinto the steaming water of the bath behind his mate.
She sat in the center of the huge circular tub set into a stone alcove. Her arms were wrapped around her upraised legs, her cheek pillowed on her knees, and her back hunched. With her long mahogany hair twisted up in a knot atop her head, the bow of her spine and elegant sweep of the back of her neck was on display.
Atria was fond of flowy clothing with interesting cut-outs. Many of her shirts revealed either her shoulders, midriff, or the tantalizing, golden brown expanse of her back.
He loved to trace his retracted claws over the elegant column of her spine. He enjoyed kissing the wings of her shoulder blades. He couldn’t get enough of watching her ribcage expand and contract with her easy breaths. And when they curled up in the nest every night, he felt a satisfaction unlike any other when he pressed her back against his chest, caging her in with his greater bulk.
When he came up behind her in the bath, Kaz was disturbed to see the naked shoulders he loved so much stiffen.
In a moment, he discovered that there was a world of difference between his mate giving him her back and her turning her back on him — as if she needed to protect herself from the being who cared most about her in all the world.
Kaz tried to get a handle on his panicked breathing. Both elvish and orcish instinct balked at that tiny, defensive gesture.
“Princess,” he whispered, settling his legs on either side of her. He rested his hands on her waist and slowly drew her backward. She shuddered, but as soon as they touched, the tension bled out of her.
When she uncurled just enough, Kaz slid his arms around her middle and held her tight. “I’m sorry.”
Atria slowly tilted her head back until it rested against his shoulder. Her eyes were closed. Exhaustion marked every precious feature. “I know, big guy.”
“What can I do? Tell me.”
A soft hand, wet with the warm water, lifted to cradle his jaw. In a measured voice, she asked, “How do you feel about me, Kaz?”
He blinked. How did he feel about her? After everything they’d done and said, he didn’t think he could be any more obvious about his feelings. They were tethered. Sheknew.
So why did it feel like it was a trick question? He couldn’t see them, but Kaz was almost certain she’d placed landmines under every word.
Speaking slowly, he answered, “You already know how I feel.”
Atria’s chest expanded with a great inhale. She held it for several seconds before she released the breath with slow deliberation. “Yes, I suppose I do.”
“Do you need me toshowyou?” His hands skated up over the smooth skin of her stomach to cup her heavy breasts. Circling his thumbs around her tightening nipples, he dipped his head to skim his lips over her shoulder.
For a terrible second he thought she’d refuse him, but then her other arm lifted. She twined her fingers into the hair at the back of his head and arched her back, pushing her breasts into his hands. “Yes,” she whispered, heartbreakingly soft. “Please.”
Relief made his hands shake.Thank fuck.
Kaz pressed several reverent, open-mouthed kisses to the sweet curve of her neck and shoulder. His fingers rolled her nipples slowly but firmly, until they were tight and pouty for him. Steam rose from the bath, mingling the scent of fresh water with his mate’s building desire.
He felt her lust, but it was not frantic, uncontrollable. It was a kind of lust he’d never really experienced before — the sort that demanded gentleness, the delicate stoking of a fragile flame.
His cock throbbed beneath the water. It was cradled against the luscious curve of her ass and like always, it demanded to be thrust inside his mate as quickly as possible.
But this wasn’t about him, nor his unruly cock. It was about the distance he could sense between himself and his mate. It was about soothing the hurt he’d caused and crossing the awful, widening gap he could feel stretching between them.
The animal side of him panicked at the disconnect. It was like she’d hidden some part of herself away from him. The more she pulled back, the more desperate the beast became as it thrashed inside him, reaching for her with its claws.
