He nodded ominously.
“Do I have any say in this?” She drew her hair behind her shoulders.
“You told me that if I saved you from the swamp serpents, you would let me touch you.”
“Oh. That. I didn’t say you could while I was na**d.”
In answer, he dropped to the ground, striding toward her.
Lanthe was in a precarious position. She desired Thronos. If she was honest with herself, she’d admit that her attraction to him was already greater than to any other male.
But touching led to claiming.
She was going to have to trust Thronos not to follow his most primal instincts. In general, males had never given her much reason to trust them. And this one was already rock hard, his c*ck straining against the leather of his breeches.
Thronos started on his pants as he closed in, his scarred fingers unlacing them, his stomach muscles flexing. Once the fly gaped, she followed his dark goody trail from his navel—
Down went his pants. Her jaw dropped in time. Well. Thronos is all growed up.
He planned to claim her. With that?
She could tell he was uncomfortable, obviously unused to being na**d around another. But apparently his need was burning away his instilled modesty.
When he pressed closer, she stepped back against the smooth tree trunk, putting the curtain of water between them. With a second’s reprieve, she resolved again to go only up to a point with him. She could control herself, despite her hormones, despite the body he’d just revealed!
He continued forward, letting the water run over his back and wings. He shook his dark hair out, wet locks whipping over his broad cheekbones. Between his narrow hips, his erection jutted hungrily.
She waved to it. “You still deny your demon blood? Exhibit A. Case dismissed.”
Aside from his nearly dismaying size, his c*ck was gorgeous. The shaft was straight and thick, with a dominant vein visibly pulsing. The crown bulged so much that the slit was almost hidden. His testicles were large, and looked in need of cupping and kissing.
When she could drag her gaze up, she was treated to his entire body in all its na**d glory. His rugged muscles were ideally proportioned for his seven feet of height. The width of his shoulders only highlighted the leanness of his hips.
Above the sculpted planes of his torso, his pecs were rigid slabs of masculinity. Were those flat, dusky ni**les of his sensitive? The thought had her twirling her tongue in her mouth.
Scars crisscrossed his chest, one curling around his hip, another deep one slashing up his left thigh. But they didn’t blunt her attraction whatsoever.
He was indeed tan all over. The sun had kissed him from the top of his head to that mouthwatering shaft to his feet. One of his lower legs looked swollen, as if the tendons were knotted there, and his foot curved inward. The cause of his limp. She thought he was fighting to keep his foot straight for this perusal.
She wished he wouldn’t bother, but males were funny like that. Show no weakness, grrr.
He’d seen all of her; she wanted a similar viewing of him, so she emerged from the water, sauntering around him. When he realized what she was doing, he lifted his chin, as if steeling himself against her reaction. But he didn’t move out from under the cascade.
Revealed between two glimmering wing tapers, his ass was a purr-inducing work of art. Streams coursed over the smooth skin there, over the tight muscles framed by shaded hollows. The cleft of his ass was so taut, she wondered if she could even nip it with her teeth.
As she continued around, he remained still, allowing her to ogle him. Now that she knew how he felt about his looks, she found this tremendously brave.
Sometimes Lanthe wasn’t as brave as she could be—certainly not like everyone else who lived in or even visited Tornin—so she applauded anyone who demonstrated the trait.
Shouldn’t Thronos’s bravery be rewarded?
When she stood before him once more, he scanned her face. Searching for some hint of her thoughts?
“Thronos, if I honestly tell you what I think of your body, will you tell me what you think of mine?” He hadn’t said anything aloud.
“Peculiar sorceress. Yes, I will.” And then he held his breath.
“You’re so big. And hard. When I look at your body . . . I get wet for it.”