Page 37 of Love Me Forever
“You are stubborn.”
“We are alike.”
“Let me at least clean your hand,” she said, “and then I will return to bed.” He could clean his own hand, but he saw that she wished to complete her task. It was important to her, and he did not wish to deprive her of the satisfaction. He held his bloody hand out to her.
“I need clean water.”
He raised a brow.
“I really am fine,” she assured him. “It feels so very good to walk about.”
He nodded with reluctance, and to his surprise she gently kissed his cheek.
“This is good for me. I need to be out of bed.”
He actually wanted her in bed, but that would have to wait. Not that he needed a healed lip to make love to her, but she needed to know for certain that she wanted him. He would not have her otherwise; for once he did he did not intend to let her go.
She dumped the dirty water in a bucket by the door for Royce to discard later, and then scooped clean warm water into the bowl and grabbed a clean cloth before returning to him.
He closed his eyes for a moment, enjoying the pleasure she brought him as she gently wiped at the dried blood with the warm cloth. How cleaning his hand could feel sensual he did not know, but his body was certainly responding.
When he opened his eyes, he watched her movements. She made soft long strokes with the cloth over his fingers, and then when all the blood was gone, she rinsed the cloth, turned his hand over, and went to work on his palm.
He wondered how he would keep his sanity. Her touch was light and she rubbed in a circular motion, round and round and round; up his fingers and back again to go round and round and round.
Damned if he was not growing hard, and damn her for moving her body closer to his and leaning against him. He thought her sigh was caused by the discomfort in her back, but there was a second and then a third, and by the fourth he understood that she was feeling the effects of her touch on him as strongly as he was.
He took the cloth from her hand and she surrendered it without protest. He dropped it to the ground and slipped his arms around her waist, drawing her in between his legs.
“I—” She could not seem to find words to express her feelings. So she did what she most wanted to do. She began to kiss his face.
CHAPTER12
Brianna softly kissed his cool cheek until it warmed from her lips, and then she traced a trail of delicate kisses up and around the fading bruise that circled his injured eye. She moved along his forehead, enthralled by the sweet yet salty taste of him, and without thought she ran the tip of her tongue down his temple to his cheek, where she returned to spread kisses. She settled in the corner of his mouth and ever so gently let her tongue play with the taste of him.
She could not seem to get enough of him, and with warm wet lips she moved down to nibble at his neck. She thrilled at the joy she felt nipping, tickling, and kissing, and she would have continued enjoying herself if he had not grabbed her by the shoulders and gently shoved her off him, holding her a safe distance away.
“Continue this and I will not be able to stop myself from making love to you.”
Her common sense returned like a splash of cold water to the face. She was startled more from her actions than his remark.
“I did not think.”
“Your actions were intended for pleasure not thought. There was no reason for you to think, only feel.”
She seemed even more startled. “You tell me that my intention was pleasure?”
“A kiss or two is pleasing; more than that ignites passion and pleasure.”
Her eyes rounded like full moons.
“Your reaction surprises you.” He wished to lift her and settle her on his lap, for she favored the side that gave her discomfort. But his arousal would be too evident to her and her bottom nestled on him would not help matters.
“I have never felt such an overwhelming urge to kiss a man.”
“You mean to seduce a man.”
“Seduce?” She stood straight, her eyes remaining wide.
