Page 244 of Lady for Embers

Her cheeks ?ared brighter, and her eyes dropped to the ?oor.

He chuckled, pulling his tunic over his head as he made his way over to her. He heard her breath hitch when the tunic landed on the ?oor beside their feet. His hands settled on her hips, and he skimmed his ?ngers up her sides, the silk cool and smooth. He could feel her trembling, and he slid his ?ngers into her hair once more, tilting her face back up to his.

“You are breath-taking, Tava Tyndell,” he said, his voice low and gruff. “I am going to ask you one more time: Are you sure aboutthis?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

He slid his other arm around her waist, pulling her into him. He kissed her shoulder, moving along her collarbone and up her throat, exploring the taste of her, until he found his way back to lips. She was gripping his upper arms, and when she ?nally loosened her grip and slid a shaking hand to his chest, a shiver rolled up his spine at the touch.

He kissed her cheek, bringing his brow to hers, and she looked up at him from under her lashes. There was a hesitancy in her eyes that he didn’t like, and he skated his ?ngers down her arm. “What are you thinking?”

“That I do not know what I am doing?”

He huffed out a breath of laughter. “I assure you, Tava, you cannot do this wrong.”

A small frown formed on her lips. “This seems like something you could do wrong.”

He chuckled again, brushing hair off her face. “For someone who tends to overanalyze everything, I can see how you would think that. But this, Tava?” He kissed her temple, along her jaw. When his lips moved to a spot behind her ear, he felt her suck in a sharp breath, stumbling forward into him. “This is just feeling, Little Fox.”

“Just feeling?” she breathed.

“Mhmm,” he hummed onto her neck as he worked his way down it. Her ?ngers began moving again, and he buried his nose in the crook of her neck, letting her explore. Her nails scraped lightly along his chest, down his stomach, around his sides, and up his back. He wanted to give her time, take his time, but he was already reaching for the hem of that nightgown she’d bought, thinking of him when she did so.

“Tava,” he breathed, ?ngers slipping under the hem, grazing the smooth skin of her thigh.

“Callan, if you are about to ask me if I am sure again, don’t,” she said, her ?nger tracing the waist of his pants. “I want this. I want this with you.”

And he was pulling the nightgown up and over her head before walking her back to the bed. He nudged her backwards, letting his hands skim over bare ?esh as she went. Flesh only he had touched. Skin only he would ever see. Her cheeks were ?ushed for a different reason now, and he liked it.

He liked it a whole lot.

He slipped his pants off as she scooted up the bed, and he crawled up after her, kneeling at her feet. He stared down at her, golden hair fanned across the pillows, turquoise eyes warring between lust and anxiousness.

“What are you doing?” she whispered.

“Looking, Tava,” he rasped. “I am just looking.”

She blushed again. “Well, stop and do something. This is...”

“Is what?” he asked, ?ngers brushing her ankles and climbing up her calves.

“I have... never been this exposed with someone,” she gasped when his ?ngers reached her inner thighs.

“I know,” he answered. “I like that.” Her legs parted as he moved his ?ngers higher, gliding over her hips, her bare stomach. “But I want you to know that I would be content to simply look at you the rest of the night, even if we did nothing else.”

“I would not be,” she replied breathlessly.

He barked a laugh. “Always so candid,” he murmured, and then she was arching up off the bed as he cupped her breasts in his hands. Her hands ?ew to his sides, and her ?ngers dug into his ribs. He bent down, taking one nipple in his mouth. The small sound that came from her had him moving to the other breast to hear it again. She did not disappoint. He peppered kisses across her chest and back up to her lips until he was bracing himself above her on his elbows.

“Tava—”

“I took the monthly aid,” she blurted.

Callan blinked down at her. “You did?”

To be honest, he hadn’t been thinking about that at all. He hadn’t been with anyone since Scarlett, but he’d continued taking his own monthly aid just to be safe. But of course Tava had thought of that.

She nodded, biting down on her bottom lip. “I asked Magdalena to get it for me. If that is what you were about to ask. I just did not want you to be worried about that if—”

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