Page 60 of Seph

“Mhmm.” He didn’t have any need to breathe, so why did his breath catch when she said those words? Intimate. Did she want to be intimate with him again? Did she want to make love? Would she let him inside of her?

I guess we’ll find out.His hand slid up to cup her cheek. “Room service will be here soon.”

“It takes time to fill the tub.”

“Emily... Emily, God, you have no idea how much I want you. Love you. Wanna be close to you. Intimate.” He bowed his head, expecting to rest it on hers, only to find her head twisting up to meet him, capturing his lips and leveraging her strength to knead his biceps into a puddle of aching.Want. This. Woman.“Mine.” A single snarling prayer.Let her be mine. Let her answer ‘yours’ and...

“I know I’m not good at this stuff. I... I could learn. You changed. I could change.” She spoke between kisses, short, bursting, desperate words. “I think we’re things that change.”

“You don’t need to change, darling. I’m bad for you, but—”

“No. You’re good for me. And bad to some other people. The people who deserve it. But for me? To me?” She shook her headand clawed his jacket off. “I’m starting to love the way you are with me.”

They had to wait. Had to keep it at kissing and nothing else, at least until their dinner order arrived. Her body certainly had other plans, demanding contact with warm water and cool skin at once.

We have to wait. Make a call.

When someone knocked at the door, Emily yanked herself from Simeon’s arms and rushed to retrieve their meal. When she turned around, she could hear water running.

“You ready?” he asked, popping his head back around from the bathroom door, accompanied by the scent of vanilla and jasmine trapped in steaming clouds.

She nodded, squaring her shoulders. “We can do this. I... I think I have a problem letting people get close. Even just touching me. My father taught me touch was an attack. Touch was combat. Even when we talked about good relationships, they weren’tgood, just necessary. I knew that one day I would be expected to have sex for the sake of making sure there was another Van Helsing to carry on the war against vampires, unless I were captured, and, well,” she swallowed and dropped her voice, “certain monsters use humans for fun before killing them, so... I don’t know. I never cultivated good feelings about love or touch. My body wasn’t really for me, you know? It was a tool.”

Simeone’s horrified gaze made her want to flee into the hall.

“Too much?” she asked in a squeak.

“No! I was asking if you were ready to call Minegold.” Simeon rushed over to her and pulled her into a hug. “But I think it can wait a little bit. Emily... Emily, I don’t want you to feel like thatwith me. Your body is yours. It should feel good when I’m with you. That’s the only thing I want from you, okay, Em? For it to feel good. For you to like my touch. And if you don’t... Oh my God.” He let her go to clasp his temples, white fingers pushing back thick waves of dark hair. “No wonder you pushed me away when I kissed you that night! If I’d been you, I would have broken my jaw!”

Mortification mixed with gratitude. Emily realized she had definitely misunderstood and accidentally overshared, but Simeon’s reaction cemented the idea that he was a safe person to oversharewith. “I like when you touch me now. I’m just learning it. I’m learning a lot of things.”I’m a virgin. I don’t have to spell that out, do I?“I know things. I read.” Face on fire, she crossed her arms.

“I know you do. And I understand. Look, people avoided me. I was the laughingstock when I was alive, the poor outcast with the sickly complexion and miserable voice, a poor charity case who didn’t belong with the educated, wealthy, privileged set. I was the one to pick on. We were both raised as loners for different reasons.” Simeon stuck his hand out to her. “But we don’t have to be alone anymore.” His smile was crooked and soft. “I’m not practiced at showing people I love ‘em.”

“I don’t know how to do it in the first place.”

“So, we’ll learn together. We’ll solve this bloody mystery, and then we’ll work on another problem—how two dysfunctional people make a functioning relationship.”

“Relationship?” That was a scary word.

“When people see each other and kiss, Huntress. When they do it on a fairly regular basis.” His smirk twitched, and it passed to her, making her smile.

“Oh.” That was less scary.

Simeon’s voice took on a teasing note. “They might even take baths together. Especially when the beautiful woman in the duoneeds about twenty thousand hugs and kisses, and probably a few hundred orgasms to make up for the lack of lovin’ she’s had in the past.”

Forget about calls. They could wait for a few more minutes. Just afewmore. She had to kiss Simeon and yank his clothes off right now. She had to press her body to hisright now.It was the only thing that made sense.

Simeon got it. He understood why it was hard for her to love and let others in. He understood why she kept pushing him away.

I’m drowning in an ocean full of life preservers that I won’t touch, Emily thought as she ripped her shirt off over her head.Because one of them might really turn out to be a lead anchor when I touch it. One might be a poisonous shapeshifting demon. One of them might be perfectly fine... until I destroy it somehow.

But Simeon is mine to touch.“Mine.”

His head jerked away from hers, utterly startled. “You—”

Simeon’s words were cut off by her kiss. “Simeon? Come with me before I forget how to let someone get close again,” she whispered.

She called me “Mine.”Again.Holy hell. Well, she doesn’t know what that means. It doesn’t mean the same thing to her as it does to me.

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