Page 41 of Of Scale and Blood

“I’m thinking you’d findanywoman arousing when you’ve a hard-on likethat.”

“Not any woman. They do have to be conscious and willing, at the very least.”

“So glad to hear you have standards, even if the rumors would suggest otherwise.”

“I suggest you ignore the rumors and concentrate on this—onus. This thing between us is the only thing that means anything, no matter what happens in the future.”

I suspected he was talking about far more than the looming battles we faced on two fronts now, and I really,reallywanted to question him about it. But Mom’s warning rang lightly in the back of my mind, so I kept quiet.

For now.

He undid the lacings on my pants, his fingers lightly brushing my skin; every touch, however brief, however inconsequential, had heat and desire stabbing through me. The sexy, almost arrogant smile tugging at his lips suggested he was well aware of it, too.

I rested my weight on my arms and lifted my butt, allowing him to tug the wet leathers from my hips and down my legs. He tossed them beside the rest of my clothes, then briefly—critically—examined the fresh scar on my leg before stepping close again and placing his big hands either side of me, all but boxing me in. I could slip back and get away if I wanted, but who in their right mind would ever want that when this man was so damn sexy?

“It may be just me,” I drawled, “but our current positioning isn’t going to allow any... meaningful... interaction.”

He nodded thoughtfully. “I do believe you are right. Perhaps we should fix that.”

He shifted his hands to my butt, then slid me closer to the edge, a position that put my breasts at his mouth level. “Ah,” he said softly. “A meal in the waiting.”

“Hardly a meal,” I retorted. “More a nib?—”

The rest of that sentence was lost in a gasp as his mouth encased my right breast and he sucked hard. A shudder of sheer delight ran through me, and he chuckled, the low rough sound of a man who knew exactly what he was doing and how to please his partner. Which he certainly did over the next heady few minutes as he alternated between my breasts, walking me to the edge of gentle pain first with his teeth before using mouth and tongue to soothe and delight.

Then he journeyed upwards, dropping languid kisses on my collarbone, my neck, my chin, before claiming my lips. Our tongues tangled and teased, testing and tasting each other to the fullest as the kiss went on and on. As desire and hunger surged to heady heights, I slid a hand from around his neck, trailed it down his body, and lightly brushed my fingers across his cock.

He groaned softly, caught my hand and pulled it away, then rested his forehead against mine for several seconds, his body quivering and every breath a harsh, rapid gasp that tore across my lips. Then, still keeping hold of my fingers, he slid his free hand up my thigh and lightly brushed his fingers across my mound. I groaned and pressed against his touch, wanting, needing, a whole lot more. His clever fingers slipped down, finding and teasing my clitoris until I was a shuddering and shaking mess, and so damn wet with need it was almost painful.

“Damn it,” I said fiercely, “if you don’t sheathe yourself in me this minute, I will be forced to take matters into my own hands.”

With a hearty laugh, he slid his hands under my butt and pulled me onto him. I wrapped my legs around his waist and thrust down on him hard, sheathing him so very deeply inside. A low moan of utter pleasure escaped my lips, but I didn’t immediately move. I simply closed my eyes and enjoyed the utter perfection of this most basic human interaction.

Then he made a low, almost desperate sound in the back of his throat and began to thrust, every movement fierce and urgent. I wrapped my arms around his neck again and moved with him, matching his desperation, riding him hard, needing the ultimate release.

When it came, it was glorious. He followed me over that edge a heartbeat later, his body rigid against mine, his seed exploding into me. For several minutes afterward, neither of us moved, our foreheads touching and our rapid breaths mingling.

When I actually felt capable of movementandspeech, I pulled back a fraction and said, “It’s just as well I’m protected against pregnancy, because it felt like you were aiming for the ultimate prize at the end there.”

He chuckled softly. “I can assure you, I was simply intent on making every glorious inch of you mine.”

“Well, you’ve certainly done that. Should we leave the thermae and return to our room? You do need to eat.”

“The only thing I need to eat right now is you. In case you haven’t noticed, I have not had my fill of you yet.”

I’d have been hard pressednotto notice, given he remained partially erect inside. No wonder the men of the Velez line had so many offspring—they were nigh on insatiable. “You can’t survive without food, you know.”

“Perhaps I cannot survive without you.” He walked us across the pool, up the steps, and then placed me on my feet. The partial erection was definitely moving into fullness.

“You say the nicest things, even if you don’t mean it.”

He raised an eyebrow. Though amusement teased his lips, there was an odd fierceness in his expression. “I do not often say things I do not mean.”

“You’re heir to the Zephrine throne,” I said dryly, doing my best to ignore the uncertainty that light was causing. “Saying and doing things you do not mean comes with the territory.”

“Perhaps for my father, but I am not he or my brother.” He grabbed the robes and tossed me the smallest. This particular conversation was now over, I suspected—a fact he confirmed when he added, “And given you’ll no doubt be ordering a breakfast at an unforgivable hour so you can go fly with your drakkon, I will rise and eat then.”

“I need to introduce Kele and Hannity to their drakkons and get them used to flying as one—which is going to be harder than it was for me and Kaia, because neither woman can mind speak.” I tightened the sash on my robe. “But you don’t have to get up.”

---