I withdrew my touch, earning a low groan from the immortal commander. I relished the power I held in the moment, but didn’t intend to withhold my touch for long.
“It’s the subtle way you care for me.” The silk of my robe was soft between my fingers as I pulled slowly at the fabric. When I turned to face him again, Dommik’s bed was behind me.
“The way you know what I need before I even realize.”
I lifted my fingertips to remove the robe entirely. It fell silently into a heap at my feet. What was left was a thin, sheer sleeping gown barely long enough to reach the tops of my thighs.
“It’s the way you selflessly sacrifice your wellbeing to keep me from danger.” Memories threatened to surface but I banished them back to the dark recesses of my mind. I could relive the horrors, but I wanted to be entirely in this moment. I brushed my hands across my collarbone, hooking my fingers beneath the flimsy straps of my black lace bralette.
Dommik stalked toward me, his eyes roaming from my lips to my peaked nipples, to the decorative black lace panties I wore before finding my gaze again.
He was upon me, less than an inch away from all surfaces.
“It’s the way my pulse quickens when we’re in the same room.”
“I love the way your pulse quickens,” he breathed across my skin as if he was following the hum of the veins beneath.
Anticipation of that first touch crackled like energy before a storm.
“It’s the way you’ve invaded my thoughts. And when I go to bed at night, I touch myself thinking of you.” I reached my hand down as if I meant to show him.
“Don’t you dare,” he growled. And I stilled my movements, my hand hovering just above my throbbing center. “Don’t. You. Dare.”
His words liquified me and surprise rippled through the rivers of my mind.
Reading my expression, he clarified, “If you came here as part of a scheme to tease and have no intention of letting me touch you, then I need you to leave. Now.”
“Oh. You wanted to touch me?” I played coy, pulling only one strap down my shoulder instead of both.
“I swear on the Four, Reyva. I will walk out into the fucking sun.” He pointed to his shuttered windows.
I didn’t want him to die. Or leave. Or go one more second being even a foot away from me. I wanted him near me and in my life every hour of the day and night.
“Then touch me,” I breathed, not entirely believing the words had left my mouth. The backs of my knees skimmed the comforter atop the mattress of his quarters.
One second became two. Two became five.
What was he waiting for? He’d heard me right?
“Dommik, I command you to touch me,” I all but whined before his hands cradled my cheeks.
He held me there. At first, his touch was comforting. His thumbs brushed against my cheeks and all the breath left my body as I waited for those lips to crash down onto mine. Pine and leather overwhelmed me.Heoverwhelmed me.
Dommik pressed himself fully against me. Looming as he held me. His gaze fluttered between my features. My entire being tingled as he threaded his fingers in my hair. A calloused hand cradled the base of my neck. And still, it wasn't his lips I felt, but his forehead resting gently on mine.
The heat within my body could power a forge. He huffed out a small laugh at my impatience.
“Tell me.” Dommik’s nose brushed against mine. “Tell me everything you want me to do.”
I reached for his pants, ready to shred them, but he swatted my hand away.
“Tell. Me,” he insisted.
I wetted my lips with a slow swipe of my tongue. Dommik’s muscles beckoned me to touch them. The way they rippled one after the other like waves of a stone ocean made my mouth water. I wanted to pour wine into the valleys of his body and drink from them.
I tilted my chin and lips up to him. “Put your hands on me.”
He obeyed, bending slightly so his fingertips could reach the backs of my thighs. Then, he traced the skin up until it reached the base of my backside. His touch followed the muscle outward until both of his hands fully gripped my hips.
