Swallowing to try and replenish some of the evaporated moisture in her mouth, she stepped out of the relative safety of the bathroom. By the time she tiptoed into the doorway of the living room, her heart had attempted to jam itself into her throat. She braced herself.
It took only a second to realize that it was pointless, because Taevas wasn’t in the bed.
A sound behind her prompted her to turn and pad the few feet down the hall to the kitchen. Her near-nakedness was momentarily forgotten as she stood in the doorway.
The dragon stood over a well-loved cutting board, his broad shoulders rounded as he painstakingly sliced a cucumber and put the pieces in a bowl with oil, salt, and the hard, crumbly cheese she ordered special from Debbie.
Had he noticed that was her favorite snack after a long, hot day in the garden? That tingling sensation ran wild in her chest again.
His hair was loose and damp. It hung in dark tendrils between the astonishing array of muscles that made up where his wings met his back. He’d found another pair of loose pants from the stash of old clothing she’d put in his room — now unoccupied, of course — and they hung dangerously low on his square hips. A passing thought that she ought to modify where his tail rested on the waistband for him rather than continue letting him crudely slice through it, came and went.
The strain it took him just to stand, let alone stay upright for as long as he must’ve, was apparent in the tremor of his hands, the odd, wrong-looking slump of his wings, and the way his tail rested on the ground behind him.
Alashiya surged into the kitchen. “What are you doing? You need to be in bed!”
He set down the knife and wiped his hands on one of her threadbare but lovingly decorated dish towels. Taevas propped the heel of one hand on the edge of the counter, using it to support his weight, and half-turned to address her. “If I can run you down in the woods, I can feed— What on Burden’s Earth are youwearing?”
She stopped just short of touching him. Alashiya flushed to the roots of her hair. “It’s just a robe. I forgot to bring my clothes into the bathroom with me.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw his claws curl into the countertop. His tail began to swish slowly behind him.
“That’s not a robe,” he rumbled, hooking a single finger into the tassel that held the whole gauzy thing together to drawher closer. His nostrils flared with a deep, deep breath before he continued, “That’sbait.”
Alashiya shook her head, but she was nothing except pliant and trembling when Taevas pressed the length of his body against hers. Considering what had happened the previous night, itwasprobably provocative, but for some reason, she opened her mouth anyway. “It’s just a robe I made from some old fabric Mrs. Thompson didn’t want anymore. It’s not— No one’s ever?—”
Taevas’s hand spanned the width of her back. The heat of him blazed through the thin material of the garment like it wasn’t even there. Hunching his body over hers, he pressed his lips to her ear. “No one’s ever seen you wrapped up in shimmery gold like a pretty little present? That must mean you’re a gift just for me.”
Between one shuddering breath and the next, Taevas had her on the counter, her knee just kissing the corner of the cutting board. Alashiya yelped and grasped his shoulders. “What are youdoing?You shouldn’t be?—”
A deep rumble cut her off. “You will not confine me to the nest any longer,naine.”The hair on the back of her neck rose. The knowledge that he was dangerous — really, truly dangerous — danced like skilled fingers across every nerve. “I’ve been forced to watch you swan in and out all day, so beautiful and maddening and indifferent to me. If I must use what little strength I have to prove to you that you aren’t, then so be it.”
Taevas slotted himself between her legs. Passing his hands up from her knees to the tops of her plush thighs, he whispered in her ear, “You didn’t answer me last night. Did you ever dream of Adon making you come,naine?”
Chapter Twenty-Five
The cold showerhadn’t done her a damn lick of good. The embers of desire roared to life in the pit of her stomach. Alashiya didn’t know how to answer him —yes,but alsono,because she could never have imagined the intensity ofthis —so instead she gasped,“Nie-nah?What does that mean?”
Something curled around her calf. It was his tail, she realized, only to be immediately distracted by the way his fingers glided up and over her hips to find the belt at her waist.
For a long moment, the only sound in the room was that of fabric rustling as he slowly, painstakingly unwound the knot. “It’s what I’ll call you when you’re being naughty with me,” he coolly informed her. “My littlenaine,who wants to test my limits, just to see how far my devotion goes.Tsk.You’ll understand.”
“I really wasn’t trying to do anything!”
“No?” The sensation of the tasseled belt falling away made her jump. Alashiya’s thighs trembled as she tucked her heels against the lower cabinets.
She braced herself, but Taevas didn’t immediately pull the sides of the robe apart. He cupped the span of her ribs with both hands. Ducking to trace the tip of his nose over her cheek, hechallenged, “You couldn’t have asked me to bring you something? Or even told me to look away for a moment while you grabbed your nightgown?”
“I…” Alashiya hadn’t realized she was still clinging to his bare shoulders until his muscles flexed under her fingertips. “I didn’t think of it.”
And maybe there was a small, needy part of her that had wondered what it would be like to be seen. Toletherself be seen.
There’d been more than pent up sexual tension between them the previous night. There was an awakened craving to belookedat, to be admired without fear or revulsion. If she were being truly honest with herself, it was that craving that had propelled her out of the bathroom in little more than a sheer drape.
As if he could read her mind, Taevas sucked in a ragged breath and asked, with what sounded like a deep drawing of restraint, “How long has it been since you were admired,naine?”
What a question.
It was one with many answers, and all of them various levels of sad. Alashiya tried to pick apart the best of the bunch. “I… don’t think I’ve ever been admired in the way you’re implying.”
