“I…I’ve never had sex before,” she said, as if he might not know what ‘virgin’ meant.
Of course he knew what it meant.
He’d just never taken an innocent before.
Vauk!
His clients tended to be wealthy, powerful females, usually in equally powerful marriages. His clients were confident in their sexuality and came to him because they knew exactly what they would be getting…good, thorough fuckings punctuated with multiple orgasms.
They didn’t come to the Krave to talk. They came to the Krave to release tension and find the intense pleasure only a Krave could give them, intense pleasure they couldn’t find among human men, or their husbands for that matter.
Khiva realized too late that his lengthy, stunned silence was beginning to fray Evelyn’s nerves.
“I…I understand if you don’t…if you don’t want to…” she trailed off, looking down at her feet. Again, she desperately glanced at the door, making his shoulders bunch with tension and she whispered, “I’m sorry, Khiva. I shouldn’t have come. I’ll just—”
“Veki,” he growled. Alarm made Khiva grabbed her around the waist when she tried to slip past him. His two hearts thundered rapidly in his chest, a mixture of panic, surprise, and arousal...and fear.
Demav, she scared him, in a way no other female had scared him before.
He didn’t know what to make of that. Or why he felt this strange, strong attachment to her.
Khiva bracketed an arm around her lower back, pressing her front into his chest, holding her against his body in the way he’d craved since she’d stepped into the room. He almost groaned at how good she felt, howrightshe felt.
“Forgive me,” he rasped, holding her startled gaze. “You surprised me. It was not meant as a rejection against you, female. Never. Not when I desire you so much.”
Almost subconsciously, he ran the very tips of his dull claws down her back, hoping he didn’t ruin the silk. But he wanted to comfort her, to reassure her. Selfishly, he wanted to mark her, to touch her wherever he could reach, a Keriv’i instinct, one he didn’t want to deny.
Khiva swallowed. So close she had come to bolting. He knew that if she had succeeded, he would’ve never seen her again.
Slowly, her tense body began to respond to his touch and her shoulders loosened. Her eyes began to go soft and the lines on her forehead smoothed.
Khiva began to relax also, though he was still processing what she’d told him, his mind firing.
A virgin…
What had possessed a virgin to come to Madame Allegria’s?he couldn’t help but wonder. Surely she had heard that a night with a Krave was…intense.
It does not matter, he realized. She was there. With him.
Khiva intended to give her whatever she sought and more…and he would pleasure her so well that she would return to him, again and again and again.
A low purr rose in his throat, pleased with that thought and suddenly very determined.
“Will you stay, female?” he asked quietly. He would beg her, if he had to. “I wish that you will.”
When their eyes connected again, he saw that her gaze was all softness, relaxed in his arms.
She likes to be touched, he realized and his chest rumbled at the thought. She pleased him tremendously. He would never take his hands off her, if that was the case.
If she stayed, of course.
He didn’t have to wait long, however, because Evelyn took in a small breath and then she said, “Yes, Khiva.”
His hands clenched into her waist at the sound of his name on her lips.
“I’ll stay,” she said quietly.
Chapter Five
