Dark Possession - Aja James Page 0,104
confining fabric.
“This?”
He knew without a doubt that she craved his sex, but he still wanted to hear her say it.
“Yes,” she breathed, squeezing him tightly with both hands, making him see stars.
At the same time, he was afraid. Females the world over wanted him. It was the primal maleness of him, the elemental strength and power. Ashlu had wanted him for the same reason, and he’d used her sexual desire to bind her to him.
But with Eveline, he wanted her to want more from him. To want him the way he wanted her.
Loved her.
He bit back a helpless groan at the truth of it. He loved her completely. Utterly.
He loved the way she stood up to him, since the first moment they met. She always held her ground, not giving him an inch. He loved the way she focused on her work, how she truly enjoyed and was inspired by her role amongst the immortals.
He loved the way she became doggedly obsessed when she wanted something, how despite being an imminently logical, intellectual female, she also had a fiery, implacable temper, a possessive, jealous streak as wide as the Nile. He even loved the quirky nicknames she thought up to call him in retaliation for his calling her “little sprite.”
Most of all, he loved her passionate heart, her courage and loyalty, how she didn’t hesitate to go after him, and to try to help a complete stranger in the eagle king, even after he abducted her.
This depth of feeling obliterated everything he thought he knew. The closest he’d felt to this before was merely obsession.
This…
This was irrevocable, permanent possession.
His body stilled against her, though tremors of a different kind racked him. Doubt. Vulnerability. Surrender.
And undiluted, all-consuming love.
“Is this…all you want from me?” he whispered, his cheek pressed against hers, his lips by her ear, his eyes hidden from her piercing gaze.
Her hands released him below and traveled slowly up his torso, past the taut ridges of his stomach, his ribs, to his chest.
One hand continued its upward path to his shoulder, along the length of his corded neck, to smooth across his jaw and cup the side of his face that wasn’t tucked against hers.
The other hand went from his pec to his upper arm. Her fingers traced the raised vein that ran along the length of it to his hand. She entwined their fingers and brought his knuckles to her lips for a kiss.
“Will you give me anything and everything I ask for?” she said softly.
Without hesitation, his answer was an unequivocal:
“Yes.”
He was too raw in the moment to meet her eyes, so he kept his face hidden against her cheek and hair. But he felt her lips curl into a smile.
“What if I want unlimited access to your library for an indefinite period of time?”
“Granted.”
“What if I require your undivided attention for unrestrained use of your body and blood?”
It was the role of a Blood Slave she described, except in reverse. That a Pure One should hold such power over a Dark One was unheard of, never mind a king.
Ramses clenched his jaw and gritted out, “Granted.”
Anything to make her stay.
Her thumb glossed across his bottom lip, pressing into the seam of his mouth.
Obediently, he opened for her, sucking her inside.
“What if I want to go back to the Shield? Will you let me go?”
No! He’d never let her go!
But… he’d never hold her against her will. It was a lesson hard learned, and Ramses would never repeat the same mistake.
Despite what it cost him, he rasped, “Yes.”
If it made her happy, no matter his pain, he would let her go.
“Okay then, I’d like to leave for an extended visit in a few days,” she said cheerfully, completely disorienting him.
He snapped his head up to look at her and saw that she was grinning beatifically back at him.
“Visit?” he breathed.
“Indeed. I’ll come back when I’ve caught up with my friends. I want to spend some time comparing notes in the Shield’s archives too. If I forget what day it is, just come fetch me.”
“Fetch you,” he echoed inanely.
“Well, yes,” she said slowly, batting her lashes at him as if he was a dim-witted Neanderthal who required extra coaxing.
“I do plan to return to the Cove, you know. Since you’re here.”
It was his turn to blink at her. Was she saying…?
“Because you’re my home, Alend,” she finished.
He simply stared at her, speechless.
“And you know what I want most of all, you big, beautiful, stubborn man?”
He tried to shake his