Oh.
“And what if I want to removeyourclothing?” I whispered.
He paused with his hands at the waist of his trousers, where a dark line of hair disappeared under the hem. My gaze kept going, down to the large bulge straining against the fabric.
It zipped back up when he spoke. “You will have that opportunity, and I look forward to it.” He undid the lacing of his pants and rasped, “But as I said, I am a selfish bastard. And right now, I want to savor every inch of you, while I teach you what it’s like to be worshipped.”
In a snap, he shoved down his trousers. And for the first time, I saw him.
I froze. I didn’t know what I’d been expecting, but he was both different and…more.There was a constant power and strength to Harthon, a sense that he was invincible. This part of him only amplified that, from his size and the veins straining against that hard skin to the dark curls nestled at its base.
Harthon broke me from my stupor. “I cannot tell if you’re afraid or intrigued,” he said with a teasing lilt.
I cleared my throat, blinking. “Not afraid. Just…”
Utterly enthralled and entirely aroused.
Rather than finishing that sentence, I reached out, curious to know this part of him. Harthon stood still as I made contact, shocked by the velvety feel. Instinct guided me to wrap my handaround him. A low, guttural sound escaped his throat, hinting at pleasure, or torture, or both.
I wanted more of those sounds.
Tight lines framing his eyes, he tucked a loose piece of hair behind my ear and brushed my jaw with his thumb. Then he closed his hand around mine and tugged it away.
Did he not like being touched there? Or was it my inexperience—
“You will have your turn,carella.” He stepped between my thighs, forcing them apart. Two fingers tipped my chin up as his intoxicating scent settled over me. “But as I said, this is about you.”
Between one moment and the next, I was on my back, and my trousers were peeled down my legs. He carelessly tossed them to the side and secured my legs over his shoulders, his mouth dangerously close to where my pulse pounded as he knelt on the floor.
“W-what are you doing?” I asked, bewildered. His fingers had touched me there before, but now his fingers were occupied with my thighs.
He couldn’t possibly mean to…tokissme there.
“That is thethirdtime you’ve asked me that question.” His lips lifted into a roguish grin. “Do you not trust me?”
I stared at him, lips parted. To the world, Harthon was not a man you trusted with this level of vulnerability. To me, he was theonlyone I ever would.
I not-so-eloquently uttered, “I don’t know how to…what to do.”
His expression softened. He pressed his mouth to the inside of my thigh. At the feeling of his lips and the brush of his whiskers, my entire body quaked. A strangled sound flew off my tongue.
“There is nothing for you to do but let me hear those sounds while I learn what you enjoy.”
Then he proceeded to do something I could never classify as a kiss. Because a kiss couldn’t send starlight flaring behind your eyes. A kiss didn’t involve fingers, and licks, and nips in such a mind-numbing combination. A kiss couldn’t cause you to shatter, coax you into an eruption that left you floating and falling all at once.
Breath-stealing shocks still rattled my body as he shifted me back, like I was as weightless as a feather. He roved up my body, talented lips glistening, his manhood nudging against my knee, my thigh. Every inch of that hot, tanned skin came to rest over mine as he leaned on one arm and sent the other down my side.
His mouth captured mine again as he nestled between my hips, the hardest part of him resting against the softest part of me. The taste of myself on his lips was foreign and wicked and intoxicating. I moaned into his mouth, need winding me tighter again, despite the release I’d just had.
He broke away with a muttered curse. “You’re driving me mad.”
My brows furrowed. “I thought you wanted to hear me.”
“I still do.” His hot palm ran past my ribs to a stray hair, brushing it aside. “But I’m trying to savor you, and after the way you just came apart on my tongue, sounds like that will turn me into an animal.”
With trembling fingertips, I brushed his jawline. His eyes fluttered shut. “You’ll have many more opportunities to savor me, Harthon. Endless opportunities, if you want.”
His eyes snapped open, and I realized that, despite all this, part of him still feared I would leave him.
