She froze. He wasn't looking at her face. How could he know?
"I'm not crying."
"I can smell your tears."
The words hung in the air between them, another reminder of what he was becoming. Enhanced senses. The ability to detect things no human should be able to detect. Her tears were unshed but present, and they were betraying her emotions despite her best efforts to hide them.
One more way he was leaving her behind.
"Mattie." His hands stilled on her leg. "Talk to me. Please."
She stared at the ceiling, unable to meet his eyes. "Massaging my legs must have the opposite effect on you than it would with a woman who was not damaged. It's a turn-off."
The words came out flat, stripped of emotion, even though they were churning beneath the surface. She'd learned long ago that stating the ugly truth while pretending it wasn't a big deal was better, because it at least saved her a pity fest.
Dimitri snorted. "As if."
He took her hand and placed it firmly over the front of his jeans.
He was hard. Not just slightly aroused, but fully, unmistakably erect, straining against the denim like he was barely contained. The heat of him burned through the fabric, and Mattie's breath caught in her throat.
"Does that feel like I'm turned off?" His voice was rough, darker than she was used to hearing from him.
She couldn't answer. Her hand was still pressed against him, feeling the pulse of his desire, and her body was responding predictably—softening, moistening, preparing itself for what she desperately wanted.
"I told you before," Dimitri continued, his hands returning to her legs, resuming the massage like nothing had happened. "There is absolutely nothing about you that will ever turn me off, and definitely not your scars. I want you all the time, Mattie. Every minute of every day. I have to restrain myself constantly just to keep from overwhelming you with how much I want you."
His voice had taken on that clinical tone again, the scientist explaining his findings, and somehow that made it more believable than any passionate declaration would have been.
This was Dimitri being honest.
Dimitri stating facts.
"Immortality comes with an increased sexual appetite," he continued. "I'm discovering that more every day. But that's my problem to deal with, not yours. You shouldn't feel obligated to satisfy needs that exceed yours."
It was so thoughtful, so considerate, exactly the kind of thing Dimitri would do.
And it made her want him more.
"I don't want you to hide your need from me," she said. "I might not be able to keep up, but I want to try."
His hands stilled again. "You have no idea what you're talking about. Inside, I'm a savage like them, and I know how much you hate them."
"Never." She stroked him gently over his jeans. "You are incapable of becoming like them. The need might be there, but it will never turn you into a savage."
The hunger that flashed across his face made her breath catch. For just a moment, she saw the predatory gleam that reminded her of the immortals she feared, but it was gone as quickly as it appeared, replaced by the warm, familiar love she'd come to rely on.
"Mattie..." His voice was strained. "You don't have to prove anything to me."
"I'm not." She pushed herself up onto her knees, her legs feeling much better now after his massage. "I'm taking what I want."
She swung one leg over his lap, straddling him, bringing them face to face.
His hands came up automatically to steady her, gripping her hips with a gentleness that belied the tension she could feel thrumming through his body.
Then she kissed him, pouring everything into that kiss—all the love she felt, all the passion, all the fear and hope and desperateneed that had churned inside her. She tangled her fingers in his hair, that thick, lustrous hair that felt like silk, and then she traced the seam of his lips with her tongue, demanding entry. When he opened for her, she plundered his mouth like a conqueror claiming virgin territory.
Dimitri groaned against her lips, a sound of pure male need that sent heat flooding through her core. His hands tightened on her hips, pulling her closer, and she could feel his hardness beneath her, hot and ready, straining against the barrier of their clothes.
