Shucking his towel, he got beneath the covers with her. “I thought you were asleep.”
“I was tired, but now I’m not.” Her gaze was shadowed, her voice quivering. “I can’t stop thinking… I could have lost you tonight.”
“I’m right here.” He tucked her firmly against him. “It’s over, and we’ll never be parted again.”
“Sinjin… we need to talk.”
Hearing the hesitancy in her voice and knowing that he’d put it there, he felt his gut clench with self-loathing. But she was right: they did need to talk. With reluctance, he released her, and they faced each other curled on their sides.
“Whatever you want to discuss, we will,” he said simply.
Her clear eyes searched his face. “What about the rule against intimacy?”
“Gone, kitten. At least for me.” Tucking a damp tress behind her ear, he said gruffly, “I insisted upon limits because I was afraid that if you saw me in one of my moods, you would want nothing to do with me. I thought that if I could distance myself when things went to hell, then maybe I could protect you from me. That maybe I had a shot at being a halfway decent husband to you.”
“Oh, Sinjin, you are far more than halfway decent,” she said tremulously.
“How can you say that after the way I acted toward you?” Anger at himself burned like acid in his throat. “I humiliated you, acted like a goddamned animal—that’s what I am when the black mood overtakes me. And when the blue one does...” He let out a harsh breath. “Polly, you’ve seen my aura. I’m a disaster.”
“You’renota disaster.” She touched his cheek. “You’re just you. And I love you.”
His chest tightened. “How can you?”
“How can you love me? I mean, you do,” she said, biting her lip, “don’t you?”
Her uncertainty was so absurd that it drew a hoarse laugh from him. “God, Polly, of course I love you. More than life. Forever and beyond.”
“I’m glad,” she whispered. “Now does it change your love to know that I could see auras, that I was what many considered a freak?”
“No. And don’t call yourself that.”
“Back in the village, they called me Peculiar Polly. I was an outcast there, and here in London as well,” she said solemnly. “In some people’s eyes, I was so unworthy that they made me the object of a nasty wager.”
“Those people are bastards. None of that matters,” he said fiercely. “I loveyou, Polly, and nothing could change that.”
“And I love you the same way. Forallthat you are, Sinjin. For your strength and resilience. The way you live life fully and with no apologies. For the passion you’ve taught me, the way your love makes me feel—free and truly myself.”
His chest ached at her words, but it was a beautiful ache.
He framed her face with his palms. “I never felt right until I met you. And now I do… as right as I can feel, at any rate.” Swallowing, he forced himself to say, “You can’t see auras any longer, but my moods—they’re here to stay. Are you certain you can handle them… handle me?”
“I’m not afraid of your moods, Sinjin. I’m only afraid of distance between us. If I’ve learned anything, it is that hiding who we are creates more problems than it solves.” Her gaze was earnest, so full of love and acceptance that his eyes stung. “As long as we face all that life brings together, I know we can handle anything.”
The only proper answer to her sweetness was a kiss. In the past, his blue devil had dampened his ardor, but the warmth of Polly’s lips dissolved the lingering darkness. The knowledge that he was no longer alone sent a hot, joyful rush through him, and before long he needed more than the mating of their mouths.
Laying her against the pillows, he worshipped her. He petted and kissed every inch of his countess and didn’t stop until she came, her magnificent breasts heaving, her pussy dripping ambrosia into his greedy mouth. Only then did he position both of them on their sides, tucking her against him, her supple spine aligning perfectly against his front.
Hooking her top leg over his hip, he notched himself to her ready passage and drove home.
~~~
Polly moaned at the filling thrust. In this sideways position, Sinjin invaded her completely, his hand trapping her leg over his, holding her steady and open as he plowed her. Nestled against his hard chest, feeling those muscles flex against her back as he worked his big, long cock inside her, she felt utterly surrounded by his strength and power. Utterly right.
His lips found her earlobe, flicking and suckling it, the erotic sensation making her clench in helpless delight.
“I love the way you take me,” he rasped in her ear. “You’re squeezing my cock as if you don’t want to let me go. As if you can’t get enough of me.”
“I’ll never get enough of you.”
