The tug at the corner of his lips tells me he knows what he’s doing, and it isn’t playing fair.
I thought this would be all quick: fast and furious. But my limbs feel like they’ve turned to liquid at the slow pace he’s commanding. The nerves from earlier are swept away with the raw feeling of desire, that heavy ache between my legs.
With agonising precision, Ten strips my trousers with the same tentative care. His fingers slide back up my legs and brush over the last of the material between us, running over the thin cotton and my skin, to drive my need, teasing me, playing me with every stroke. It’s mortifying how much I want this man.
My hands hum with warmth, the itch to run them over Ten, to feel him and savour every inch of skin, and as if reading my mind, his face cracks into a smile.
“Have at me, Ever.” He stands back a fraction, and my hands dive for the hem of his top. There’s no smooth, slow touch for me, I tear it up over his chest and let Ten do the rest of the removing as I run my hands over his chest, sparked on by the low growl from the back of his throat.
Leaning forward, I don’t stop at my hands exploring him, and my lips press against the hard plains of muscle trailing down to his trousers.
“Ever…” he grits my name as his head falls back on his shoulders.
“Shhh, I want to play.” My tongue licks over his chest as my hands claw at his back. He tastes of salt and citrus, and he makes me ache by doing nothing but standing before me.
“Aslendrix, I’m begging you.”
“Shouldn’t you be begging me?” I grin against his skin and look up at him.
He tilts his head forward. “Oh, Little Siren, I will beg on my knees for you. I will worship every inch of you until there is nothing left for me to give,” he smooths his hand up my jaw and sweeps his thumb over my cheek, “and I promise to be the only man worthy of touching you, even if it takes me a lifetime to prove it.”
I look up at him through hungry eyes. My pulse beats, but how? Because he just speared my heart with each of his words, opening me up and gutting me with the veneration behind them.
“Ten—”
He kisses me so softly, so reverently, I melt. The fierceness of my power crests as I plaster my body against his and pull him against me, chest to chest. Heat surges between us as we hold each other. My power disobeys my earlier command, and thegentle humming now rages, enflamed with Ten’s as if welcoming the contact.
But even now, I can feel his body trembling, and not in the way it was just a moment ago.
I will not do this to him. I will not put him through this for my benefit.How can I?
I pull my arms from around his neck and step back, noticing the deep rise and fall of his bare chest as I do. “I won’t make you do this. You say you want to be worthy, to be the only man worthy, then let’s do this right. Because I can’t share something so important with you, giving my whole self to you when I know how much it costs you.”
“Ever, I can do this. I’m fucking on my knees for this…”
“This is more than sex between us. I thought I needed to prove something and have this with you now. But with the words you just said, well, stars, there’s no choice now.”
His hand snakes around my waist, tugging me back towards him. “Are you sure?” He rests his head against mine. “Because I meant every word I’ve said to you tonight.”
“I know. I feel you, Ten.Not just in my head, but in my heart.” I push the last words through our connection, through the fog surrounding him. “There have been a lot of things that I wish you could erase from my memory of today. Being with you would have been a good cure for that. But I want to be worthy of your sacrifice, too. Every time you touch me, you suffer. I know what you’ll do for me. To protect me. I don’t want you to have to be that person when we’re together, too.”
He plants a kiss over each of my eyes before he walks across the room to a chest of drawers and pulls out what looks like a grey top. “It’s a training top. Should be more than big enough.” He tosses it over, and I slip it over my bare skin. It smells of him, and I inhale deeply as the material slides down my torso andpools at my hips. I turn to climb onto the bed and scoot down, pull the blanket over me, and turn on my side.
Before he comes back to bed, he checks the door and then slides in next to me, his back to the door and slides his knife under his pillow.
The air thickens with unanswered questions, perhaps, of what didn’t happen tonight, but my heart feels full. Satisfied. And I know it was the right decision, even if there’s still an ache within me.
“Do you always do that? Even when you lived here?” I ask, bringing my hands up and using them as a makeshift pillow, even though the one in his bed is plenty comfy.
“The knife? It’s a little closer than usual tonight.”
There’s a good few inches between us, but I don’t feel the distance. Not now.
My body cools, but there’s a warmth which infuses through me that has nothing to do with the physical temperature. It’s simply because he’s next to me.
“I could get used to this.” My eyes begin to drift closed, the day finally catching up to me. The strength to even keep them open to stare at Ten isn’t even there.
“Don’t worry. I have no intention of you ever being able to miss me now, Little Siren.”
