Holy Zrenyth…
And then, understanding slowly crept upon me.
That girl waslust-drunkonme.
All that mocking and scoffing she’d done earlier was false bravado.
She wanted me, but she’d been doing her very best to pretend otherwise.
The washcloth was soft against my fingertips as I plucked it from her slackened grip. Her eyes, gloriously dazed with desire, flashed open. But her body stiffened with mortification as she realized what she was doing. She tried to back away, but I dug my hand tighter around her waist to stop her from running.
There was nowhere to escape.
Nowhere else to look but directly at me.
Nelle stood stock-still. I wasn’t even sure she was breathing. Her long lashes fluttered with barely concealed craving, and I imagined her resolve crumbling to dust when her gaze slowly dipped lower, sliding like hot honey over my physique, and it burned with shameful appreciation.
I angled my chin, indicating her face coated with clay. “I think beneath all this I’ll find you blushing.”
Her horrified gaze sliced back to mine. “No, you wouldn’t.”
Lush lips, full and inviting, parted on a sharp gasp when I gently pressed a fingertip to her cheek and scraped gently along the curved cheekbone to reveal the flushed skin beneath. “It’s that adorable rose pink.”
She breathed out embarrassment. “That’s just the force of your fingertip on my—”
“You’re blushing even more deeply now.”
She tried to deny it with a shake of her head, and tendrils of spiral curls wavered. She froze, her eyes growing impossibly wide, when I pressed the cool, wet washcloth to her temple and chanted softly,“Liar, liar, liar.”
28
Nelle
Watching Graysen work was mesmerizing and far too intimate.
I should have closed my eyes and shut him out. But I was spellbound by the quiet concentration on his face, the subtle dilation of pupils and faint gathering of lines at his brows, as he carefully wiped the last of the sweet-smelling clay from my temple.
Liar, liar, liar…
I wasn’t sure if he’d realized what he’d done—overwhelmed my senses.
He’d moaned my name during that stupid squabble of ours. I’d wanted to shame him into leaving, but the prick hadn’t left. He’d challenged me right back. While my tone dripped with ridicule, his gravelly voice sank lower, edged withthatgrowl. Deeper and frayed with desperation, as if he had dragged my name up from the depths of his black soul.
And I’d fallen into that strange, suspended place again, where my awareness untethered and something ancient and feral claimed its place. All that remained was his pull and my surrender.
Hiswantstrummed a low bassline in time with my heart.Our hearts.
I’d wanted to sink my teeth into the soft, vulnerable spot in his neck. Relish the sweet metallic sting of coppery blood. Have it coat my teeth and sweep across my tongue. Dig my fingernails into his flesh and scrawl my tale across his body in wordless marks.
I’d risen on my toes, theswaydrawing me to him because of whathe’dwanted. He’d commanded me in a primal, animalistic display simply because he desired me.
Graysen couldn’t learn what power he had over me. Ever.
I had enough to deal with. My birthday wasn’t far away, and I’d be bound to Graysen’s will for the rest of my life—however short that might be. Between now and then, he’d own me completely.
Graysen stretched his arms around my sides to rinse sticky clay from the washcloth, bringing him even closer. I couldn’t see what he was doing behind my back, but I was fairly certain he’d neatly folded the cloth and placed it on the vanity’s shallow recess.
He performed it all without breaking eye contact.
