Dash shook from the force of his raw emotions. She touched him on levels he’d never known existed. As he looked into those dark dragon eyes, he saw heaven itself. No woman had ever touched him like this. He’d never allowed himself such a comfort.
Never dared hope to possess it.
She was so giving to him. He drank the tenderness from her lips and tasted the goodness that was innate to her and so missing from him. She was an angel, and when he looked at her, he could almost believe in such things.
Rolling over, he pulled her on top of him so that he could cup her face in his hands and just stare into those precious dark eyes and the promises they held.
But he knew better than to believe in them. How could they ever have a future?
They weren’t the same species. Look at what had happened with his own parents. Did he want to sire children who would be just as terrified and haunted as he was?
As Ryper?
It was one of the reasons he’d made sure that he never fathered children. There was no telling what they’d inherit from his mother. Naomi of the Tenmaru held powers that made Marthen appear weak and frail.
His own father had been scared of her at times. And Dash couldn’t blame him. His mother was the only one alive who could give Meara a run for her money when it came to cruelty.
Those inherited powers were no doubt what had turned his horn black.
What had allowed him to survive captivity.
But he didn’t want to think about that. Not while he was with Tanis.
She moved her head and kissed his open palm. The gesture shook him. His heart pounding, he watched as she kissed her way up his arm to his lips.
Closing his eyes, he pulled her gown over her head, and relished the feel of her naked body against his.
Tanis moaned at the heat of his body under hers. Desire swept through her.
He gently rolled her over and placed himself between her legs. She felt the hairs of his legs rubbing against her inner thighs as he kissed her. Of his hard shaft resting against her thigh.
It was such a strange feeling to be so exposed to him. And yet it was so natural that they would share themselves. She reached up and ran her hands along his whiskered cheeks to bury them in his dark hair as she saw the needful hunger in his eyes.
“I am so glad you’re with me, beast,” she breathed.
Pain and pleasure mixed in his dark green eyes as he stared at her as if unable to believe he’d heard her. He looked as if he were dreaming and terrified of waking.
His muscles rippling beneath her hands, he pressed the tip of his shaft against her core.
Tanis held her breath in expectation.
He brushed his hand against her cheek. His gaze held hers as mutual understanding and care passed between them. It was a priceless moment of sharing.
Then he dipped his head and claimed her lips in a passionate, fiery kiss before he drove himself deep inside her body.
With every breath he took, she could feel him throbbing inside her. Feel him rigid and hard all over and in her.
Instinctively, she moved her hips, drawing him in deeper as her muscles tightened around his shaft. He growled in response and a look of such pleasure crossed his face that it spurred her to bolder actions as she writhed beneath him.
Dash held his breath at the sight of her lying beneath him while she milked his body with hers. He held himself rigidly still even though it was killing him. He wanted her to want him, to not fear the desires of her own body.
She should take as much pleasure from this night as he did. More so, in fact. And he loved watching her discover her sexual power and bliss. If she had nothing else from him, he was glad that he’d taught her something more than fear of this.
Tanis was no longer timid with him. She was become almost feral with her desires, and nothing could please him more.
Growling at how good she felt, he thrusted himself deeper into her. They hissed in unison.
Never once in his life had he dared to hope of a night where he could be with a woman so unreservedly and know that she was with him by her own free will.
