A smile tugs at my lips. Okay, that’s … kind of adorable.
Ezra grumbles low in his throat. “They like you.”
“Really?” I murmur, still grinning.
“Unfortunately.”
Even his grumbling is endearing.
“C-can you take your sweater off?”
Ezra leans forward, reaches behind him, and then peels his sweater off with one hand.
Holy shit, he’s beautiful.
His upper body is lean, muscled, and covered in delicate tattoos of plants and animals—like the forest itself chose him and etched its secrets into his skin.
“Do the tattoos cover your entire body?”
“Yes. Except for my hands and feet, and from my collarbone up.”
“Beautiful,” I murmur as I lean forward and press my lips to his. Ezra deepens the kiss, his hands sliding around my hips, pulling me closer.
“Tell me what you like and what you don’t. If you say stop, I stop. No bullshit, no games. Just us.”
This should feel awkward. Instead, Ezra makes consent feel sexy as hell.
“I-I really like dirty talk. And when you pulled my hair at the shop? That felt incredible. You can touch me anywhere but … I don’t want to have sex just yet. I don’t know, Ezra. I don’t have a lot of experience.”
I look away, heat crawling up my face. But Ezra gently grabs my chin, turning me back to him.
“There’s nothing shameful about experience, or the lack of it. It’syou. And you, Aurora, are fucking exquisite.”
He cups my jaw, his thumb tracing my lower lip.
“We’ll move at your pace. I’ll guide you through it—ask you what you like, what you want to try. If you don’t know, we’ll explore it together. No pressure. No expectations. Only what you want.”
“O-okay.”
Once he has my consent, Ezra sits up, fists a hand in my hair, then wraps his other arm around my waist, pulling me flush against him. His mouth rests by my ear, his ragged breath tickling my neck, sending a shiver down my spine.
“Let’s start slow, darling. Do you like feeling my breath on your skin? Do you like it when I bite?”
When I nod, Ezra nips at my earlobe, making me moan. It’s been so long since someone touched me like this. It wouldn’t surprise me if I burst into flames.
“Good girl.” Ezra’s lips graze my throat, whispering against my pulse. “Do you like your tits worshipped? My mouth? My hands? My tongue?”
“Yes, Ezra.”
My voice is barely a whisper. The arm around my waist disappears just before Ezra cups my breast and rubs his thumb over my aching nipple.
“Pinch me. Please.”
His shadows pulse in the dark, a second heartbeat shifting through the room, responding to my pleasure. His fingers find me again, thumb and forefinger closing around the sensitive peak as the tendrils quiver like echoes of flesh, desperate to feel for themselves.
A throaty growl rumbles from Ezra’s chest as he rolls my nipple between two long fingers, coaxing a raw, helpless moan from me.
“Do you like a bit of pain with your pleasure, Aurora?”
