Joriel settled me between his thighs in the warm water, one arm banded beneath my breasts. His other hand reached for the bottle of soap. The feel of his fingers gliding over my skin and through my hair was intimate in a way that went far beyond anything we’d done before.
This was what it felt like to be married. It wasn’t just about sharing our bodies or our lives, it was the quiet moments of service, the comfort of being in each other’s arms.
It was amazing how the little things could feel so special. How could something as simple as unwinding the knot he’d secured his hair in feel so monumental? But it did.
When I’d finished washing the shampoo from his hair, Joriel leaned back, his head resting against my chest. I wasn’t sure how long we sat like that. The water never seemed to cool, and a part of me would have been okay with staying there for hours. I didn’t just feel safe, I felt needed and wanted. Joriel wasn’t my protector anymore; he was my partner. We were a team, each bringing our own strengths and weaknesses into our relationship.
“Are you ready to go to bed?” I asked finally.
“Whenever you are, sweetness.”
He moved away, reaching for the fluffy towels beside the tub. He tied one around his waist before opening the other one for me. The soft fabric whispered over my sensitive skin, heightening my anticipation for what was about to come.
“Are you okay?” he murmured.
I nodded. “Are you?”
He scooped me into his arms again, stepping out of the tub and carrying me to the king-sized bed in his room. Drops of water still beaded on his chest and darkened his hair as he climbed onto the bed, hovering over me. His fingers curled in the knot in the towel wrapped around me, and he slowly peeled the fabric back. Painfully slowly. Anticipation and need ratcheted up inside me.
“Please kiss me,” I begged him.
He stilled. “You don’t have to beg me for that. Ever. I’m yours, remember? That means you can have my body however you want, whenever you want.”
I reached up and pulled him down to me. Our lips met in a kiss full of longing, desperation, and sweet adoration. My blood heated as our tongues tangled, and a steady ache started up between my legs. I wanted more, so much more. My hands skimmed over his back, careful of the wounds there.
“Do they hurt?” I hadn’t seen him react when the water touched them in the bath, but I was pretty sure he didn’t flinch when the collar was burned off his neck the first time I saw him fight either.
“Not really,” he answered. “I’ve had worse.”
“I don’t want to make it worse. I don’t want anything to taint this memory for either of us.”
He grinned at me. “This memory, this moment, is perfect. I wouldn’t change one thing about it because this is real.” His eyes burned as they roved up and down my body in a slow perusal that made my skin feel like it was on fire and intensified the throbbing in my core. Iwantedhim. Some instinctual part of me knew he could soothe the fire in my blood that threatened to consume me. I just needed him to fill me, to take away the empty ache.
“Take me,” I breathed, lifting my hips, searching for some relief to the pressure building between my thighs.
Joriel groaned as I pressed into the hard ridge hidden beneath his towel. “Laila,” he ground out, his eyes fluttering shut.
It was my turn to grin. I loved seeing him like this, on the brink of losing control. I tugged at his towel, removing the barrier between our bodies. I reached for him, but Joriel caught my wrist before I could.
“If you touch me right now, this is going to be over way too fast.” He pressed my hand into the mattress by my head and held it there as he lowered his mouth to my chest. His tongue darted out and licked over one hardened peak, making my body jerk. I felt his lips curve up as he closed his mouth over my breast and sucked, each pull echoing in my center and driving me wild.
Joriel moved to my other breast and then kissed his way down my body. My breathing sped up as my desire reached heights I hadn’t even realized I was capable of. His breath danced over the most intimate parts of me, the only warning I got before his tongue glided over my center. My breath caught in my throat as my hips lifted off the bed.
“You’re so wet for me,” Joriel murmured into my folds a second before his tongue slipped inside me.
My free hand, the one he wasn’t holding to the bed, fisted in his hair, holding him to me as his mouth drew more and more pleasure from me. It was too much—my legs shook and my whole body felt like it was vibrating. He eased a finger inside me and then a second one as his mouth moved to my sensitive bundle of nerves.
Curses and gasps fell from my lips as everything inside me coiled and tightened. The sight of Joriel between my legs had been erotic last time, but now it was even more so. There was something different about knowing that it wasn’t just the man I loved but myhusbandtaking me to the very brink of what I already knew would be the most powerful orgasm of my life. I could practicallyfeelthe bond between us, the power behind the promises we’d made. I was his and he was mine, and nothing could ever come between that. Not all the demons in Hell or anything that we’d face in Lucifer’s palace. Not time or space.
His fingers curled, hitting a magic spot deep inside me, and I shattered. Waves of pleasure rolled through my body as I broke into a thousand pieces. Euphoria so strong it bordered on pain rocked me.
Joriel pulled back, his lips glistening with my juices. He ran his tongue along his lower lip, his eyes shining with wicked delight. “Exquisite,” he murmured.
I couldn’t respond even if I wanted to. I could barely catch my breath as my body thrummed with aftershocks. Somehow the climax had only made me want him more. It had made me more aware of how empty I felt, how his fingers weren’t enough. Not tonight.
Joriel’s expression grew more serious as he stared at me. “Are you sure about this?”
“I wouldn’t have married you if I wasn’t.”
