He smiled at her. “It was your first quickening, Lilah. Of course—”
“Not then. Before. You took me to the den despite hating everything about it.”
He frowned. “You would have gone without me anyway. It was safer—”
“With you. Yes, I know. Everything is safer with you.” She lifted her head from his hands and stretched up on her knees until they were face to face. “You’ve always protected me.” She arched her brows. “You threatened Reuben Bates, didn’t you? If he mistreated me.”
He winced. “I don’t threaten. I merely—”
“You made your opinion known. And the consequences if he goes against your choices.”
He cupped her face. “I will not have you mistreated.”
She smiled. “Even when I don’t see it, even when I’m not thinking of it, you make sure I am safe.”
He dropped his forehead to hers. Did she not understand? “I would be devastated if you were harmed. Protecting you keeps me sane.”
“Appreciating you makes me happy.” And with that, she kissed him again. Her hands roved down his neck and chest as she pressed apart the sides of his shirt. He felt her hands, glorious on his body, but more than that, he felt her appreciation in the way she explored his body. She let her hands glide over his chest. She murmured a deep, throaty sound. And she smiled at him in a way that made him stronger.
She loved him. He could see it in every gaze, every caress, and every kiss. And he stared down at her in wonder. She. Loved. Him. She had said it before, but this time he felt it. This time heknewit.
He felt his heart crack with the realization. He felt his soul split from the feeling. And as his heart opened and his soul expanded, he became overwhelmed with gratitude.
She loved him.
He was loved.
Even though he had offered her nothing. Even though he had left her for a year. Even though he had chosen his career over her and even now had promised her nothing. She still gave him love.
She loved him.
So he worshipped her.
She loved the way he caressed her head, so he delved into her hair and felt her tension ease. Then he stroked down her neck because he couldn’t resist touching something so gorgeous even as he stroked lower. He pushed her shift down her shoulders, then grinned as she abruptly stripped it away. Such beautiful breasts. He touched them because he couldn’t stop himself. He continued to knead and stroke them because she gasped and sighed as he played. She threw back her head as he pinched her nipples, and she reached for him. He let her explore his chest as she willed, but he delighted more in teasing her nipples with his tongue. Sucking her into his mouth to hear her gasp. Scraping his teeth along her nub to hear her cry out. And then letting his free hand flow down her quivering belly until he pressed into her wet, intimate folds.
She whimpered then, a sort of stuttered cry that was both need and confusion. He looked up from her breasts to scan her face. He felt her legs spread to give him better access even as she gazed at him.
“I want more than pleasure,” she said. “I want you.”
He didn’t understand her words, but he understood her body. Her legs were drawn wide as his fingers opened her further. He plunged one into her depths and rolled another over her clitoris. She writhed beneath him, arching and gasping. He watched as her neck stretched, her mouth widened, and her eyes took on the dazed look of rapture. Almost there… Almost…
“No!” she abruptly pulled away from him. Her breath was heaving as she scrambled backwards.
He froze, uncertain what he’d done.
Then she pointed a finger at him even as she struggled for breath. “Together, Aaron. Or not at all.” Then she slammed her mouth against his. She tugged at his shoulders and tried to pull him fully onto the bed with her.
He held her back as he held himself back. “I’m a big man, Lilah.”
“I’m a strong woman, Aaron.”
She was. He knew it. And he wanted her so badly.
He watched her expression shift from need to confusion. “Why don’t you want me?” she whispered.
“I do,” he rasped. “It’s all I can do to stop.”
She shook her head. “Any other man would have taken me a hundred times by now.”