“Like this?” I teased my fingertips up her thigh, urging her nightgown higher and higher until I exposed her belly. Her lovely breasts held rosy circles budding for my mouth and touch already. “As you said, I might’ve been willing to touch them with my hands.” I cupped one and rubbed my thumb across that gorgeous nub. “Or even with my mouth.” Easing down, I ran my tongue across her nipple, then gently nibbled with my tusks.

Her fingers in my hair, she rocked up against me, pushing her ripe bud into my mouth. “Yes, like this . . .”

I released her nipple with a wet pop and gave the other equal attention, rising over her after to study them. “They’ve pinkened.”

“They like what you’re doing,” she said in a languid voice. “So keep doing it.”

My laugh rang out. I’d thought about having sex before but every time I imagine it, it hadn’t involved the thick emotions I felt for Amanda, the ones that choked off my throat and made my heart thunder. And I’d never spoken with anyone who’d laugh with me, let alone expressed eagerness to be with me.

So, I’d waited—for her.

“You’re special,” I said. “I mean this. I’m falling in love with you, but please don’t see that as pressure for you to feel the same or even to do this with me. I like you too. You’re fun, you make me laugh, and I can’t wait to sample all the teas you’ll dream up. I know they’ll taste amazing because they mean something to you.”

“Xax,” she breathed, her eyes sparkling. “I really like you too.”

So what would the gods decide? I wasn’t going to wait for them to give us permission to be with each other like this.

We would decide, not them.

I kissed her again, with less sweetness this time. Need was driving me feral. I wanted her. Craved her. And to think that she liked me, that she wanted to be with me like this was feeding my craving.

She bumped her hips up toward me, hitting my abdomen. It was going to be interesting trying to fit us together and not only because I was big. Would she stare at my chest while I pumped inside her?

I wrenched my head up. “I need to fuck you from behind. Then you won’t have to stare at my chest.”

She blinked up at me a moment. “What’s bad about staring at your chest?”

“I’m referring to our size difference. When I’m driving my cock inside you while facing you, I won’t be able to kiss you at the same time.”

“You won’t be able to kiss me while driving your cock inside me from behind either.”

“But I won’t be thinking about trying to kiss you from that position.”

“You could be right. I hope you’ll be so into driving your cock inside me that you won’t be thinking of kisses no matter what position we use.”

“I always think of kisses when I look at you. Always.”

Her smile rose. “I do the same thing. Like yesterday when you and Cresar were lugging stumps from the woods, and you were only wearing a skimpy loincloth that barely covers the good stuff. Your muscles gleamed in the sunshine, and they bulged in all the right places. Frankly, I’d find it arousing to stare at your muscled chest while you’re driving your cock inside me.”

My cock was throbbing. Kisses and sucking on her nipples had made it stiffer but surprisingly enough, talking about this and hearing how she’d admired my body yesterday was arousing me even more.

“We’ve established that kisses are good,” I said. “That me sucking on your nipples is good.”

“I think it’s better than good. We could even say excellent.”

“Is there a way to improve on that?”

Her lips curled up again. “If you keep trying, you’ll only get better, don’t you think?”

Yes. Definitely yes.

I claimed her mouth once more, savoring how soft her lips were, how she moaned when my tongue dipped inside to coil with hers, how she stroked my shoulders. She was thinking of my muscles, I knew it. And that made my cock slam against my abdomen in desperation.

Leaving her mouth, I made sure her nipples remained rosy. She wrapped her legs around me and tiny peeps like a drettire’s erupted from her throat. She ground her pussy—soon-to-be-dripping passage—against my body, and my cock got even stiffer.

I kissed my way down her front until I reached her thighs. She parted them before I could nudge them wide.

“You did oral yesterday,” she said, coiling my hair around her fingers and tugging gently.