“You smell like jasmine and roses,” he says against my skin.
“I wonder why.” I smile, even though he cannot see my face from this angle.
His lips press against the back of my neck, sending delicious shivers racing down my spine and igniting a flutter of desire in my core. “I like roses and women who smell like them.”
“So, I could be any woman lying here, and you would like me?”
“No.” He grips my hips and pulls me closer to him. “You are the only woman I like.”
“You’re only saying that because I’m the one lying next to you,” I tease, knowing deep in my heart that it’s far more than that.
The bed dips as he grabs my shoulder and turns me to face him. His intense gaze meets mine, those brown eyes with golden flecks smoldering with an emotion that steals my breath away. “You are the only woman, Annora, and if I have to live every single day proving that to you, I will.”
“Jasce...” I say in a choked voice as emotions well up in my throat. “You could have any woman you want.Anywoman. Yet, you came to Bakva for me. I am noth—”
He presses his fingers against my lips, silencing my words. “You are everything.”
I let out a frustrated exhale and sink back against my pillow. “You have far more faith in me than I have in myself.”
“I see you as you are, Annora. Brave, strong, compassionate. But you only see the scars.” His fingers brush lightly over the scarred skin on my cheek, tracing the ridges with a tenderness that brings tears to my eyes.
I swallow hard and jerk to sitting next to him. “You have not had to live with them as I have.”
“You think they limit you and define you, but they do not. Your scars are a part of you, yes, but they are not all of you. They show your resilience, your strength. They make you even more beautiful to me, because they are a testament to all you have overcome.”
Emotions swell in my chest as I turn away from him. Nobody has ever spoken like this to me before.
“Annora,” he says, his voice low. “What are you thinking?”
I shake my head. “That we are both foolish. You are the chieftain of the Hematite tribe. I am Hakan’s granddaughter. Your people would rather see my head on a pike than see me next to you.”
“I believe I can change things between our houses,” Jasce says, his voice low and earnest.
“How?”
Jasce grabs my shoulders, shifting me back to face him. “By marrying you and having children with you.”
My mouth parts as his words sink in. Jasce grins, as if he alone holds all the answers.
“That’s forbidden,” I protest weakly.
“I’m chieftain now, and if I want to marry you, I will marry you.”
“What if I don’t want to marry you?” I ask, needing to be a little stubborn, to push back against his arrogance.
A knowing smirk quirks up the corner of Jasce’s mouth. “You will marry me.”
“What if I don’t?” I shrug, as if trying to prove I don’t care about him.
He props himself up on one muscular arm, the cords of his neck taut, and uses his other hand to caress my jaw. “You will marry me, Annora,” he says, “because you are already mine. Mine to kiss, to adore, to worship with my body.”
“Have you ever said please in your entire life?” I ask, trying to cling to some scrap of defiance, even as my traitorous body thrills at his touch.
He leans closer and whispers against my mouth. “Mine.”
The moment my lips part in surprise, he takes advantage and captures my lips in a scorching kiss. The first brush of his tongue against mine sends white-hot need lancing through my entire body.
He trails open-mouthed kisses along my throat while his hand ghosts up my thigh.
