Page 75 of Valkyrie Unknown

Getting close to her, despiteclosebeing several feet away, sent prickles racing over my skin. Could I actually feel her, or did I simply want to?

I settled onto the grass and opened my drawing pad. I let the pencil in my hand glide over paper, filling in the lines as it would, and alternated my attention between the drawing and her. She was grace. Liquid. She moved with a practiced ease, like a dancer.

The thoughts about what happened earlier weren’t gone, but they were tempered by my drawing and by her easy beauty. I lost myself in the lines, sketching a version of her that would never flow as smoothly as the real thing, but was still fluid.

“Is that me?” Her question startled me.

When did she stop practicing?

I looked between it and at her, where she’d crouched next to me. “It is,” I said.

“You’re incredible.” Pink tinged her cheeks. “Your art, I mean.”

“Thanks.” I wanted to argue. To tell her it was nothing. I’d spent most of my life hearing that my art was a waste of time, and eventually learning to hide it from anyone but Mom.

Finn insisted I own my talent though. He never let me explain or push away or deflect a compliment.

A yawn threatened to split my jaw, and my eyes watered.

“I thought you were going to sleep.” Was Azzie actually concerned?

Why wouldn’t she be?

Because she’d grown up believing she was fated to kill me.

“I tried.” My being this close to her was a temptation, like two days ago when we met. Her heat and energy were both intoxicating and comforting.

Odd combination.

She stood. “It was the coffee wasn’t it?”

I climbed to my feet as well. “Probably.” It wasn’t. I wobbled on my feet as exhaustion spilled inside. My mind raced and my body reacted to how close she stood. I wanted her again. The other day was incredible. The frantic sex. The giving in, before we knew how we were connected.

I was too tired for frantic, but I needed?—

“I know what’ll help you sleep,” Azzie said.

A fast, hard orgasm?“What’s that?”

“A fast, hard orgasm.”

I huffed a laugh at the apparent mind-reading. “Have I mentioned I like the way you think?”

She hooked her arm through mine, and the instant my skin brushed hers, bits of the mental storm evaporated. We walked side-by-side back to the house, and into my room.

“Relax,” she said after I locked the door behind us. “Let me do the work.” There was a tenderness in her voice that I hadn’t seen yet.

I wasn’t sure this was the way to do things, but I was willing to give it a try. She pulled off my shirt, then the rest of my clothes, with a soft touch that sent shivers of need spilling through me.

“Sit.” Azzie nudged me playfully, and I landed on the bed, the comforter cool against my bare ass.

I couldn’t find a reason to protest as she stripped out of her own clothes, a piece at a time. Though there was no smooth seductive dance, it was clear she appreciated the audience, and the way she moved was as fluid and graceful as outside. Every twist and stretch and flex showed off muscle definition built on a lifetime of training.

She closed the distance between us, and nudged me back on the bed, until I was on my back in the middle of the mattress. The way she crawled up my body reminded me of a sleek cat, stalking prey for fun rather than food.

I should be bothered at the thought of being her prey, but every feeling except desire was evaporating.

She drew her fingers lightly along my skin, and slid into an upright kneeling position as she straddled my hips. The way she hovered over my cock, heat radiating between us, meant her pussy brushed my hungry erection, but she didn’t lower herself enough for me to enter her.

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