Body and soul.
Kalder watched as she slowly explored the room with bold fingers, while learning to swim. Her every movement a seductive dance of someone not quite at home in the water. Yet even so, she rolled her hips and moved her arms with the art of a practiced courtesan.
She was all fluid grace as she spun about in the water. The linen of her tunic flared out, showing him a bit of her stomach, while the white linen of her breeches continued to show him the darker hairs at the juncture of her thighs. And all he could think about was unbuttoning them and sliding his hand down so that he could stroke her. Watching her writhe to the rhythm of his fingers…
His body erupted into fire as he watched her. He needed her in a way that made him burn from the inside out.
She paused as she caught his gaze. Her face fell instantly. “Am I doing something wrong?”
He struggled for control. “Nay, lass. I like it. A lot more than I should.”
Her gaze darted down to the part of his body that the water made it impossible for him to hide. While his breeches were dark and therefore kept him covered better than hers did, there was no missing the size of the bulge that betrayed his hunger for her.
Even in the darkness, her cheeks glowed, and the enhanced color only made her eyes glisten. Worse, it made his cock jerk with a need he couldn’t control.
Kalder’s throat went dry. He fully expected her to stop or pull away.
Or slap him. Which he deserved.
Though he knew she couldn’t go far, given that she needed his breath to survive here.
But to his utter shock, she reached for him and pulled him closer.
She stopped just short of touching his mouth to hers. They hovered in the water barely a hand’s breadth apart.
Damn, how she looked wild and wonton there. Like some manifestation of his fantasies. Not real, but a fey creation sent to torment him worse than any of the horrors Vine had used against him.
He wanted her more than he’d ever wanted anything. And he knew all the reasons why he shouldn’t. All the reasons why he had to keep away from her.
She deserves better than you. She’s a creature of light and air.
You’re born of watery darkness.
And none of that mattered to him.
Cameron pulled his lips down for another breath. He moaned at the taste of her as every piece of him screamed out for more. She was unlike anyone else on this earth.
Above or below. Never had he met her equal.
Drunk with her sweet taste and unable to rein himself back from the edge of this, he dragged his lips from hers to her throat, half expecting her to protest or shove him away.
Praying she would slap him.
She didn’t. Instead, she cradled him with her body. Held him there as she sucked her breath in sharply. His head spinning, he buried his head between the deep valley of her breasts so that he could taste the creamy skin that tormented him. The salt of her skin blended with that of the ocean and burned his tongue. More than that, it whetted his appetite, making him demand more of her.
Cameron closed her eyes, savoring the sensation of Kalder’s tongue on her flesh. She knew she shouldn’t allow this—in her world, her reputation and purity were everything—but she didn’t want to stop him.
Not now. She was long past the age of childhood. Had her parents not died and had she not been forced into the role of playing a lad, she’d have married long ago and been settled with a husband. Most likely to a loveless match.
And while she wasn’t sure exactly what she felt for Kalder, she knew that she cared for him. Deeply.
Most of all, she knew in her heart that she wanted this moment.
With him, and no one else.
She couldn’t even imagine being with another man. She’d wantedhim almost from the first moment they’d met and he’d scared her in the dark with his saucy walk and mysterious ways.
Determined to see it through, she pulled at his shirt until he shrugged it off. Her breath caught at the sight of his scarred chest. Of those sculpted muscles that teased and flexed as she ran her hands over his shoulders and down his arms to his clawed hands that were scarred from the countless fights he’d been in.
