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“This,” I say, low and honest, “isn’t a man taking.”

I let that land.

Let it burn.

“I’m already on my knees, little crow.”

My voice roughens around the truth.

“The difference is, this time, nobody put me here.”

She exhales—slow, unsteady. She stays still, and I realize this is no longer restraint—it’s devotion on the brink of release.

At last I lift my hands slowly enough that she can watch them rise. The firelight finds the scars on my palms. I let it. When I touch her, I touch her the way you handle something that could still bolt—one thumb brushes the waistband of her jeans and rests there.

Her breath hitches.

I drag the zipper down slowly, giving her every second to stop me.

She doesn’t.

The night air touches the pale strip of skin beneath her navel, and for a second, all I do is look at the place she’s allowed me to reach.

Then I lower my mouth to her.

Not taking.

Not claiming.

A kiss pressed just below her navel—soft, unhurried, barely a question.

And then I go still.

Because worship isn’t worth a damn if it doesn’t know how to wait.

“Show me, little crow,” I whisper, voice raw on the edge. “Not because I asked. Because you want to.”

My fingers ghost her panty line. She shivers, the reaction fierce and urgent.

Her fingers curl into my hair at the root—slow, deliberate—and pull until my neck has no choice but to arch back and my eyes find hers.

“You’re not taking a damn thing from me, Malek Vane.”

She pulls just enough to make the truth hurt.

“You’re on your knees accepting what I decide to give you.”

With that, she releases my hair. She hooks her fingers in her panties and draws them down—slow, deliberate. Firelight catches her skin. My mouth goes dry.

I bow forward as if in prayer, my breath hot against her skin, my eyes never leaving hers.

Not because I was taught to.

Because prayer finally found something worth lowering itself for.

Selah’s fingers tighten in my hair before my mouth even reaches her. Not gentle. Not unsure. She holds me there like she knows exactly what she’s giving me and exactly what it’s going to do to me.

Good.