"I... what?"
"Your ankle." The corner of his mouth twitched. "The injury. Does it pain you?"
She'd forgotten about her ankle. Completely, utterly forgotten. "It's... fine. Better, I think."
"Good."
His thumb continued its slow path. Up and down, up and down, tracing the length of her spine through the thin fabric of his tunic.
"Ralvar."
"Mm."
"What are we doing?"
His hand stilled on her back, then resumed its gentle motion. "What do you want us to be doing?"
What do you want?
The question he kept asking. The one no one had ever asked before him. The one she still didn't know how to answer.
Except—
Maybe she did.
Delia pushed herself up on one elbow. The movement brought her face closer to his, putting them nearly eye to eye. She could see the gold flecks in his irises and the old scar that cut through his left eyebrow.
"I want—" She stopped. Swallowed. The words felt too big for her throat. "I want to feel what it's like. To be wanted."
The look he gave her was hungry, fierce, but carefully controlled.
"You are wanted."
"I know you've said that. I know you've shown me." She reached up, hesitant, and touched his face. The skin was warm and slightlyrough beneath her fingers, textured like weathered leather. "But I want tofeelit."
He didn't move. Didn't speak. Just looked at her with those burning amber eyes while his chest rose and fell in measured breaths.
Then his hand came up to cup the back of her head, and he pulled her down to his mouth.
The kiss was deeper than the night before. More demanding. When her mouth opened on a gasp, his tongue swept inside. It was thick and slightly rough, like velvet over stone, and the press of his tusks against her lips sent a thrill through her—strange, foreign, exhilarating.
She moaned and felt his answering growl vibrate through both of them.
His hands slid down her back, found her hips, and lifted her as easily as if she weighed nothing. Suddenly she was straddling him again, her thighs bracketing his hips, and she could feel—
Oh.
She could feel him. Hard and hot even through layers of fabric. Her body clenched involuntarily, and the movement pressed her more firmly against him.
Ralvar broke the kiss with something that sounded like a snarl.
"Careful," he gritted out.
"What if I don't want to be careful?"
Heat flashed in his gaze, and his fingers tightened on her hips. "Then you will undo me, little human. And I am trying very hard to maintain some control."
"Maybe I don't want you controlled."
