Page 86 of Storm Echo

“What?” she said.

“I marked you, too.”

Delighted by the idea, she wanted to find a mirror, see, but she wanted to be with him more, so she prowled up so they were nose to nose, her hair thrown over one shoulder to pool against one side of his body. “Hi.”

He ran a hand over her spine. “Hi.”

They just looked at each other and oh, they were kissing. Slowly, and with intense focus, as if nothing else existed in the entire world. And it didn’t, not for these moments in time caught between pieces of chaos. This time was theirs, and Soleil intended to enjoy them to the hilt, well aware that Ivan’s priorities would have to shift the instant he was back up to full psychic strength.

She was a healer, had no argument with his priorities. Those people needed him.

But that time hadn’t yet come, so she could monopolize him without guilt. Kiss him with lush eroticism while he touched her as if he’d never touched anything so beautiful, even though she was too thin, her ribs and hip bones sticking out, barely any curves to her.

Then there were the scars. So many scars quite aside from the familiar ones from the childhood accident. Changelings had good healing capabilities but she’d been badly wounded, and her body had directed its energy into keeping her alive. The scars would fade over time, but they were yet rigid and obvious.

The one where the ax had thunked into her back was the deepest, but there were myriad others, all of which Ivan touched and stroked the same as he did the unmarked parts of her body. As if learning her piece by piece.

And the way he’d looked at her when she’d first stripped for him? Oh, the man had been fixated on her breasts, hadn’t given a fig about any scars. He’d just wanted to put his hands on her. It made her lips curve as she made her way down his body.

Because her Ivan had loved her body before, and he loved her body now. She could imagine him touching her just the same when she was an elder of a hundred and twenty with skin seamed by life and bones that no longer worked quite the same. And oh how she hoped they’d get that moment—and all the ones that came before it.

Kissing the image of her he had written on his skin, she found herself being tugged up by a gentle pull on her hair when she would’ve wriggled her way farther down.

Lifting her head, she said, “I’m not done.”

“I want to taste you as you imagined.”

Soleil parted her lips to ask what he was talking about, but then he squeezed her hips in a nudge to move up and she got it. Her entire body went hot. She blushed at the sheer brazenness of her thoughts, but fantasizing about naughty things with her man wasn’t a crime.

“We need to get a control on this bond,” she muttered, her cheeks hot.

Ivan shaped her buttocks with his hands. “No. I like instructions and suggestions in this area.” Then he urged her higher.

And because she had about as much willpower as a noodle when it came to resisting him, she went. Up, and up. Until he was gripping her hips to hold her in position, and tasting her exactly as she’d fantasized.

He drove her insane.

It wasn’t about technique or sophistication. No, it was about Ivan Mercant’s sheer enthusiasm for the task. He explored her with his tongue and his lips as if he couldn’t get enough of her, his attention to detail on luscious display. Soleil whimpered and came.

He licked her through it.

Then started all over again—after pressing a tender kiss to the inside of her thigh.

God, the man was lethal.

Chapter 41

Dear Aunt Rita,

I’ve been dating my Psy neighbor for a month and things are getting physical. Only the thing is, he’s a virgin. I’m fine with that, but I think he feels a little lost so he stops things anytime the flames start to burn.

What do you think I could do to put him at ease, because I really, really want to jump his hottie bones. (I did ask him if he wanted to exchange skin privileges and got a definite yes.)

?Mare who wants to be Bare

Dear Mare who wants to be Bare,

First thing—you may need to slow this express train to Orgasmsville to allow your lover to catch up. Remember, Psy have only just begun to embrace touch.

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