Page 75 of Moon Craving

from, but she wouldn't take either back.

Talorc did not seem bothered. In fact, once again, he smiled.

She would have told him to wipe the smug look from his face, but he lifted her

against his body and all her air left her.

"If you are going to wash me, do it now."

She did not know how he expected her to do so and said as much.

He rubbed his hardness against her once before releasing her on the other side of

the pool, where she found she could stand without going under. "There."

She looked around for the soap but he grabbed her chin, making her look at him.

"Just your hands."

She nodded, equal parts terror and desire fighting inside her. Then she reached

through the warm water and brushed her hand down his arm. She'd seen her mother do

that to her stepfather when he was tired or upset. It seemed such an intimate act.

Something a wife would do for her husband.

But from Talorc's expression, she knew he expected more. She wanted more. She

took in a deep breath and then placed both hands flat against his chest. Skin hotter than

the water covered hard muscles that felt like silk-covered granite under her fingers.

She used a washing motion but could not pretend that she was doing nothing more

than a mundane chore. She trembled with the newness of touching another.

He made no move to direct her, allowing her to explore his torso in the guise of

washing it. Neither spoke as she mapped his body with shaking hands.

She stopped with her hands resting against his stomach. "I want to touch you

there."

He did not ask where "there" was; he merely nodded.

She did not move. "I'm afraid."

"Of what?"

It was her turn to respond with silence and a shrug. She could no more give voice

to her fears than she could have stepped away from him in that moment.

"You have given me great pleasure these past two nights."

"You put your hand over mine," she reminded him. As if he could forget that tiny