I smiled. “Careful. At this rate, you won’t live up to your reputation of being a grumpy, insufferable bastard.”
“Best keep it to yourself, then,” he said in a low murmur. “How’s your cheek feeling now?”
“Better.”
“Have any other wounds that need tending?”
I shuddered as he dipped his fingers into the salve and then slid the mixture across a spot on my neck just below my ear. His touch was soft and gentle, and the steam from our contact erased any lingering pain, not that I would have been able to think of anything but the closeness of his body to mine.
My thighs spread instinctively, and without a word, he edged his body between them. Angling his head, he continued to rub the salt down the side of my neck, stopping only when he reached my collarbone. I held myself very still, scarcely daring to even breathe. My heart was rapturous thunder in my chest.
“How is that?” he asked.
“I…” A furious heat filled my cheeks. “I think a little rain may have gotten into my shirt.”
What in fate’s name was I doing? Rivelin was theenemy, except…he wasn’t. Not anymore. He never had been. He was an angry, grumpy bastard, but he was also inexplicably kind, courageous, and protective of his people. And he was notnothandsome. In fact, he was extremely attractive, even more than all the other elves I saw here every day.
He moved his hand to my tunic and popped one of the buttons. A tremor went through me as his fingers moved to the next. I palmed the smooth steel of the anvil and hung on as if I were seconds away from plunging over the side of a cliff. If I fell, I’d never recover.
He reached the bottom button and stared so intently into my eyes that several seconds ticked by before I could breathe. There was a silent question in that look, a search for confirmation. Swallowing, I nodded.
With an almost feral glint in his eye, he snapped free the final button. The tunic fell open, and the warm air from the fire caressed my bare nipples. A muscle in Rivelin’s jaw tightened as he gazed down at me, his lips curling in wicked satisfaction.
“I see a spot that needs healing,” he murmured.
He dipped his fingers into the salve once more, then ran them along the curve of my cleavage. I tightened my grip on the anvil and struggled to stay still as he slowly stroked my breast, his touch more tantalizing than before. With darkening eyes, he continued to rub the spot where the rain had seemingly burned me, and then he swept his thumb across my peak.
A storm of pleasure engulfed me, and I bit my lip to keep from moaning.
“Oh, isthatthe right spot?” he asked in a deliciously sultry voice I’d never heard from him before.
“Mmm hmm. That’s one of them, yes,” I managed to say.
He dragged his thumb across my swollen nipple, and despite my every attempt to remain still, I arched against him. Sudden need clenched my thighs, tightening around his hips. He edged a little closer, and something hard pressed against my core.
“I think I need a closer inspection,” he said roughly.
He cupped my breast, leaned in, and stroked his tongue across my peak. I couldn’t contain my moan. It spilled from my throat as I reached out and dug my fingernails into his arm. The steam was a hazy fog now, so thick I could see nothing but Rivelin’s face and those bright, brilliant eyes that lit up the dark.
He continued to caress my breast with his tongue, teasing me, tasting me, causing a need unlike any I’d ever felt to pound through me.
When he pulled back, I thought he might stop there, or he’d return to his pretend wound tending. We’d crossed a line, but we could still pretend there was nothing to it. He was merely soothing my aching skin. He had accidentally spent a few moments too long on the wrong spot, that was all.
But then he cupped my face, leaned in, and kissed me. His mouth melted against mine, and an intoxicating heat burned the last of my inhibitions away. This was it, everything I’d secretly wanted for days—Rivelin’s mouth against mine, the heat of our touch steaming between us, and his arms on either side of me, protective and strong. I reached up and clutched his tunic, tugging him closer to me. The hard length of him pressed against my core, and something primal awoke within me.
I arched against him, grinding my hips against his. The low growl that rumbled from the back of his throat lit every inch of me on fire. He pulled back, and I gasped for air as he tugged my tunic over my head. The warm air of the forge caressed my bare skin, but it was nothing compared to the heat in Rivelin’s gold-flecked eyes. No one had ever looked at me like that. My heartbeat roared in my ears.
Rising from the anvil, I gathered the soft material of Rivelin’s tunic in my hands and slowly, methodically, lifted his shirt to reveal the generous planes of his well-muscled chest, only marked by a key dangling from a chain that hung around his neck. I leaned in and kissed one of the many ridges, relishing in the steam that clouded around us and in the feel of his smooth skin against my lips. He slid his fingers into my hair and gripped tight, holding me there.
A delicious thrill went through me.
I kissed him again and again, moving from one sculpted pinnacle to the next, the mountainous peaks of muscle just as breathtaking as I’d expected. But I wanted more. So muchmore. I lifted my hands to his belt and undid the clasp, then raised my eyes to meet his.
The intensity of his gaze made the world drop away. The only thing that mattered was this.
“Ladies first,” he murmured as his hands palmed my hips and tugged down my trousers. I stepped out of the material, now exposed before him, and then his trousers joined mine on the floor. His hooded eyes raked across me. “You are the most spectacular creature I’ve ever seen.”
I let my eyes drift south. His swollen cock was larger than I’d expected, and by the way it strained toward me, he felt the same delirious heat I did. Swallowing, I sat back on the anvil and spread my legs for him, tossing my hair back from my shoulders.
