“What are you thinking about?” The flare of curiosity in her was favored with the spice of desire. It made her words come out a little breathy, and I made a note to remember that voice and what it meant.
“You,” I replied because no matter what I did or what I thought about, she was always the reason for both.
“Andwhatare you thinking about me?”
“How much I like having you lying on me like this.”
“Youlike?”
“I do.”
“But shadow fae can’t enjoy things, not even enough tolike.”
“Right now, I can,” I insisted. “I enjoy it through you. And I really like how you’re pressing me into this mattress. I believe you weigh a little more than a satchel of gold now. I’m glad I bought you a month ago. I wouldn’t be able to afford you now.”
She laughed loudly. Her laughter resonated with a shake through my body and cascaded with shimmering mirth through my emotions.
“Where I’m from, you’d never get a date talking like this, Timur. You’re too honest for your own good.” She poked a finger in my chest.
“In your world, do men lie to get women?”
“All the time.”
“Is that the only way to have a mate?”
“No. Of course not. But some see it as the easiest way.”
“Did you have a man? A mate?” I asked.
I’d learned so much about Elaine. I knew what she liked to eat and where she loved being touched. But until today, I knew nothing about her past. The little I knew about that, I’d learned while lying on the beach during the storm, with her being on top of me, just like she was now.
And now I feared she might’ve left behind someone she cared deeply about. The next moment, however, I realized my fears might be for nothing. I found no deep sadness in her heart, not even a big regret.
“No,” she said with ease. “No mates, no husbands, not even a cat. Men didn’t particularly fight each other for the privilege to date me, but I had a few dates, nothing too serious. One I actually just met before the shadow fae took me.”
“You met a man?”
“Yep. On the Internet. We have a few dating apps back home…” she cut herself off with a close look at my face where my confusion must’ve been obvious. But she waved a hand instead of explaining. “It’s a thing where I’m from, but it doesn’t matter. Anyway, we matched up, chatted remotely for a while, and got together for a coffee. He seemed nice enough to have a second date with. I was going to have dinner or maybe a movie with him after I came back from visiting Dawn, but… Well, Prince Rha’s guards showed up and messed up those plans.”
“Do you regret parting from him?”
I didn’t sense much regret in her, but decided to ask anyway.
“I have many more people that I regret parting from, like my parents and even my cocky little brother. My colleagues, my students. It pains me that I’ll never see them again, never talk to them either, not even on the phone. But Owen?” She shrugged. “I knew him so little, there’s nothing to regret other than the possibilities of what might’ve come from that relationship. But even then, who knows? It could’ve all turned sour if it went any further. Now that I have you?—”
She stopped abruptly, casting me a shy glance from under her eyelashes.
“I don’t mean that Ihaveyou or that you’re mine…” she corrected quickly.
I hated the doubt marring her joy.
“But you do, my sweet. And I am yours,” I said to clear it all between us. “I’m no one’s but yours, Elaine. And you will always have me, for as long as I live.”
The doubt lifted in her, and I was glad to see it gone. She crawled a little higher up my body to place a small kiss on the corner of my mouth.
“You’re so sweet,” she murmured.
“Am I?”
