A shiver went down my spine so hard my toes curled.
“Fifteen? That’s all you need?”
He chuckled against my mouth, smug and wicked. “For you? I might only need ten.”
My face heated, part pride, partyes, please ruin me again.
He pushed up onto an elbow, still inside me for a second before slipping out, and the loss made me gasp. His gaze flicked down, taking in the messy evidence of what we’d just done. Something dark and satisfied passed through his eyes.
He reached for his glass on the nightstand and took a slow sip before offering it to me. Glass against my lips, his fingers steady at my chin. I tasted the warmth, the bite, and the burn. He watched every second, like the sight alone made him hard again.
A soft, throbbing ache pulsed between my thighs when I shifted, and I felt the warm trickle of something else slide down my inner thigh, leaving a crimson trail against my flushed skin.
I tensed involuntarily.
His hooded gaze caught the telltale sign instantly. There was no discomfort in those eyes. He set the drink aside and then pressed a lingering kiss to the corner of my swollen mouth, tilting my face up to look at him.
"Selene," he said softly, my name a caress on his lips, "you gave me something no one else ever has. There's nothing about that you should hide from me or feel ashamed of."
Then he slid off the bed, gloriously naked, unhurried, and completely unselfconscious, his silky dark hair sexily messed, muscles rippling beneath inked, bronzed skin, his ass just as toned.
My own hair was all over the place. I didn’t want to imagine what my make-up looked like. I was smoothing the strands down when he returned from the marble basin, wash towel in hand, eyes immediately finding mine.
Moonlight cast silver shadows across his sculpted form. He settled beside me like it was the most natural thing in the world, the mattress dipping beneath his weight.
“Leave it,” he said softly, pulling my hand away. His gaze dragged over my messy hair, my swollen lips, my naked body, and something in his expression softened in a way he’d never let anyone else see. “Selene… beautiful doesn’t cover it. You’re everything.”
Everything.
No one had ever called me anything close to that. I felt… exposed. Laid bare in a way that had nothing to do with the sex. I lowered my gaze, trying to gather the pieces of myself back together, but it was useless. The truth settled in with a terrifyingkind of clarity. I wanted him to see me that way. I wanted to believe him.
His touch was gentle as a whisper as he wiped away proof of what we'd just crossed together. He held me open with a sure hand, cleaning me carefully, reverently, like it mattered.
Alaric..." I trailed off, heat flooding my cheeks. "I can do this myself, Jesus."
He shook his head. "Every part of you is mine to take care of." His voice was velvet-rough, possessive in a way that made my stomach flutter.
"How do you feel?" he asked after setting the damp towel aside, the pad of his thumb brushing that sensitive hollow where my thigh trembled beneath his touch, leaving a trail of goosebumps in its wake.
"I'm sore," I admitted, “But I feel... good."
The word seemed inadequate for the delicious ache between my thighs, the lingering fullness that reminded me of every thrust.
He eased a strong hand down the curve of my hip, then lower, testing—gentle, his fingertips grazing the swollen, sensitive folds of my pussy with a reverence that made me dizzy, lightly circling my clit.
I inhaled sharply, the cool air burning my lungs, not from pain, but Just molten, liquid want pooling between my legs. He felt my body respond, that tiny involuntary arch of my spine, that soft whimper that escaped my parted lips before I could trap it behind my teeth.
"You're still so wet," he murmured, his voice a dark promise as he leaned over me, warm lips brushing the shell of my ear. "Good thing I'm already halfway there."
My heart thudded against my ribs like a caged animal. Heat coiled low in my belly, tightening with each breath, intensifying the aching need to climb on top of him exactly the way he'dpromised. Maybe I could get him to wrap his hand around my throat again.
Fifteen minutes suddenly felt like a lifetime.
PART TWO
PRESENT
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN