My fingers trace the edge of it. Gentle. Deliberate.
"If someone hurts you again," I say quietly, "I'll handle it.Fjalë e burrit." A man's word. A promise. "Understood?"
She doesn't answer right away. The razor scrapes against my skin. Once. Twice.
"Lily." A demand, not a request.
"What do you care?" she asks suddenly. The question comes out sharp. Defensive.
The words hit wrong. Irritation rising fast and hot.
Does she really think that? Does she really believe I don't care?
I reach for her hips. Pull her forward. Hard enough that she gasps. Hard enough that there's no space left between us.
My erection presses against her. Hot. Insistent. Impossible to miss through the thin towel.
"Can you feel how much I care?" My voice comes out almost a growl.
Her breath catches. A small sound escapes her throat. Half gasp, half moan.
The sound almost undoes me.
My hands tighten on her hips. Holding her there. Holding myself back.
"Be a good girl." My voice drops lower. "And finish cleaning me up."
Her whole body goes still against mine.
Then I feel her hands move. Shaking slightly. Reaching for the towel beside us. Wiping away the remaining cream with careful strokes. Her touch light and reverent.
Neither of us speaks. Neither of us moves.
The moment stretches charged and electric. Everything unspoken hanging heavy in the steam-filled air.
Her hands linger on my face. Just for a second. Just long enough that I know she feels it too.
This pull. This want. This inevitable collision we're both hurtling toward.
12
ERION
I'm in Luan's kitchen looking for Lily.
Which is stupid.
I should be in the office with Artan going over last-minute details for the meeting. The meeting that could legitimize everything I've built. Everything I've fought for. The meeting that determines whether the Blood Council recognizes this alliance and me as an equal or dismisses me as an opportunist with delusions of grandeur.
Instead, I'm here. Looking for a woman I barely know.
It pisses me off.
I've had beautiful women before. Plenty of them. Women who know what they want and how to get it. Women who don'tpretend to be anything other than what they are. Women who understand that want is a transaction, not a promise.
But Lily is different.
I can't explain it. Can't pin down exactly what it is about her that's gotten under my skin after just a few brief encounters.
