A little giggle falls from her lips, and I open my eyes to find the intensity of her green stare. She’s watching me.
“You like that?” she asks.
I shake my head because I don’t have the words to describe just how much Idolike it. But as good as this feels, I’m conscious of the worries I discussed with Dray earlier today. I want to be with her properly – all the way. I want to sink into her, and I don’t want to lose my chance too soon.
I grab her wrist and tell her to stop.
“What if I don’t want to?” she teases, her hand still gripping me.
“It’s too good, Nini,” I tell her. “And there are other things I want to do to you.”
She smiles mischievously. “Like what?”
She’s going to make me say it.
“I want to fuck you, Nini,” I tell her.
And the thought of it has my shadows flaring from my hands, hot and dangerous in the air around us, hovering motionless in anticipation.
Gently, I remove her hand from my cock. I take a step back from her, out into the cool air of the bathroom. I close my eyes. I breathe. And the shadows slide back inside me.
I look back toward her, water racing over her face, down her body, and pooling at her feet.
“What do they want?” she whispers.
“To hold you down, Briony. To hold you down and have you.”
She bites her lip, sweeping her fingers through her wet hair, then down her body. “Have you ever considered that I might want that too?” she murmurs.
And the shadows inside me roar with such intensity I feel like I might explode.
“And maybe I want that too,” I tell her, holding her in my dark stare. “But not tonight. Not the first time, Nini.”
I reach out, cup her chin, run my fingers over her sweet lips. Then I draw my hands down her body like she had done, catching her hand in mine and pulling her from the shower as I shut it off with my other hand.
Then I dry her with a large fluffy towel, taking care to wipe away each droplet of water from her skin tenderly, using my magic to remove the wetness from her hair, and then wrapping her in another towel before tying one around my own waist.
She’s smiling up at me again.
I hesitate – just for one moment – catching my breath, steadying myself. And then I sweep her up into my arms and carry her into the bedroom.
When I step inside, we find almost a hundred candles flickering around the room.
“You did this?” she asks, snug in my arms.
“No. It must be one of the others.”
“Theyaresweet, really,” she says.
I roll my eyes. “I’m not sure about that.” But it does give my plain and bare room a certain intimacy, and for that, I’m grateful.
I carry Nini over to the bed and lay her gently down on the mattress.
She unwraps the towel from her body as if it’s gift paper. She drops it onto the floor, and then she’s lying there – my mate, my thrall, my Nini – naked, on my bed, in my room, waiting for me.
I freeze. All those worries from earlier race through my brain. I don’t want to let her down. I want it to be special. I want to be as good as the others. I want to make her moan my name over and over again in my ear.
“Thorne,” she says, knocking me out of my thoughts.
