Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 79726 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79726 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
At the same time, I don’t care if it’s that same adrenaline that has me throwing my arms around his neck. So strange. The glamour even makes his hair feel like hair instead of when my fingers brush against his brother’s face. I want to get lost in him completely and wash away all the terrors and uncertainties that lie outside that door.
He drops his lips to mine so I can kiss him, but before I’ve gotten a taste of his lips, he’s pulling back again. He frames my face with his large, strong hands and searches my eyes, his face serious.
“How are you really, though, my beautiful one? Everything has been happening so fast. I want nothing more than to fall into bed with you—”
“So let’s,” I interrupt, reaching up on tiptoes to kiss him again.
But he pulls away just before I can make contact, and I let out a little discontented whine.
“I want to connect to you in every way,” he says, smoothing my hair back from my face. “There were many shocks today. I have seen humans after battle before. It can take hours for the effects to be felt.”
Even as he says the words, I start to tremble.
“Come,” he says gently, reaching down for my hand to draw me toward the attached room where there’s both a bath and a large, separate shower. Large enough that there’s a bench along one wall and multiple showerheads.
“Big enough for two,” he says, sliding his hand down my curves. “After the day you’ve had, you deserve to relax.” He leans in to whisper. “Let me wash it all away.”
I shiver this time from good feelings, not remembered terror. I’ve almost forgotten this side of Remus. But this is how he was when I first got to know him. Before any of the craziness. Before I met Romulus or his family or we had to run for our lives.
He shifts me and tugs my shirt over my head, and I relax back against his chest. The room is cold, so I shiver a little.
“Don’t be sweet and gentle now,” I whisper, crossing my arms to cover my tummy. “I can’t bear it.” Tears cluster in my eyes.
“Would you rather I was a beast?” he murmurs, turning me around to face him after peeling off the rest of my outer clothes. He’s undressed, too, and I blink, struggling not to look down.
I’m still wearing my bra and underwear, but somehow, I’ve never been so bared and naked before him. I don’t know if it’s just because I’m so exhausted by everything that’s happened today, but I feel terribly vulnerable.
“Today must have been terrifying for you,” he says as if reading my mind.
I nod, my throat clogged. “I was so worried—” I cut off, almost hiccupping. “Ksenia, I mean, she had a baby right in front of me on a helicopter that was about to go down. And then we were in this whole other—” My brain scrambles for the words to even describe it. “Place where these huge flying things were attacking us, and you weren’t there—”
His arms close around me and shut off my increasingly frantic words. I guess even I hadn’t realized just how freaked out I’d been by it all. Everything happened so fast, and then it was over, and I was so thankful we were all okay, but—
Suddenly, I’m crying. Tears I can’t control.
“I should never have left your side,” he says. I’m all but shuddering in his arms now.
“Yes, you should have,” I cry into his chest. “Or else we would have been blasted out of the air by missiles! But yeah.” I turn my teary face into his warmth as he rubs my back. “It was a lot.”
“Let me make it up to you.” The words are a whisper against my ear as he nestles his head down against mine. “Let me take it all away.”
I nod fervently against his chest, and he walks us toward the shower, only pulling away long enough to turn on the shower spray. He unhooks my bra and slowly, eyes never losing contact with mine, peels it off me. Then his hands are at my hips, and when he bends over to tug my panties down my thighs, I swear I can feel the heat of breath as he inhales and exhales quickly before my panties are at my ankles.
He leads me inside the marble and glass, and it’s the perfect amount of hot and steamy.
He positions me right underneath the main spray, and my muscles immediately relax a little. He’s standing behind me and must feel whatever tension is left, though, and begins to massage my shoulders.
“I want you to give yourself over to me completely now,” he murmurs.
I nod, still hiccupping from tears. Yes, please. I still feel so overwhelmed by everything. I feel so secure in his arms, in his care, and it sounds like heaven to give it over to him. To give up control.