off in a way. There was a different kind of pain in those eyes. From her visions of him, she thought she knew why.
It felt as if her heart and breath stood still in anticipation as she slid her hands beneath his t-shirt to the heated skin underneath. Part of her couldn’t wait to see him bared before her again, longed to be able to touch him. She wanted to draw it out the moment, make it last, like opening a present to herself. And to him.
She skimmed her hands up his ribs, gathering the material in them before she stripped it up over up his head and let it fall aside.
A long sigh of pleasure escaped her as she ran her hands lightly over his broad shoulders, slid them over the hard muscles of his chest, taking the time to simply admire the beauty of his body, the glorious curves and planes of it.
She sighed.
He had a body to admire. There was strength in him and power. There was also pain, it had been burned into his skin, cut into it. Her fingertips trembled as she touched them, the scars they’d left on him.
Heat moved through Ash at the look in her eyes as her hands floated so lightly over his skin. A shiver went through him.
She smiled just a little when he did. The pleasure and wonder in her expression as she looked at him nearly made his heart stop. That smile faded just a little as her fingers traced the scars and those pale green eyes lifted so her gaze met his.
Then she bent her head and kissed the ridged flesh gently.
No gesture could have touched him more deeply. His cock stiffened, pressed painfully against his zipper. He wanted her intensely but he couldn’t bear to stop her sensual caress, the slow slide of her hands over his skin. It had been so long since anyone had touched him this way. Millennia. None of his recent dalliances had, they’d been too eager to have his cock inside them.
“Jeans,” she said, “off.”
He chuckled. “Bossy woman.”
“Damn straight,” she said, and grinned.
He unbuttoned his jeans, shifted as he drew the zipper down and watched her eyes widen as his cock sprang free as he peeled his pants over his hips while he kicked off his boots.
For a moment she went still.
Miri should have expected it, but somehow she hadn’t.
Of course, he went commando. Almost involuntarily, she licked her lips as she looked at the sheer size of him. It felt as if she went hot instantly and her pussy tightened at the thought of that rigid, throbbing member inside her. Her breath caught even as she reached out to stroke a finger up the long length of his shaft.
Ash shuddered, the touch so unexpected that his body seemed to lock in response.
Getting his jeans off the rest of the way was slight more difficult. Dried blood had glued his jeans to his skin and the wound.
Ash hissed in a breath.
Startled, Miri dropped to her knees. Using some of the wine, she blotted at the wound and the cloth around it until the cloth came free, then she helped tug his jeans free before turning her attention to the injury. Even so, she couldn’t seem to resist touching his skin, her gaze returning to his long thick cock.
What would he look like as himself? she wondered, remembering the fight in the parking lot. He’d been magnificent, glorious. She wanted to see that again.
Ash shifted his weight to the edge of the bed to make it easier for her. Every inch of him was aware of her on her knees before him binding his hurts, but every touch was sweet torment. After all the centuries, pain was nothing, pleasure was something he’d known far more rarely.
She looked up at him from beneath red-gold lashes, the color of her eyes deepening, the gold flecks in them brilliant. Those eyes caught him, held him. She looked at him and waited expectantly, a small smile twitching at the corners of her mouth.
To his surprise, he found himself smiling in return. In the face of that, it wasn’t hard at all.
He shifted.
To his heartfelt gratitude, her lips curved and then parted in a soft sigh of wonder as he
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