he tried to remove shoes and strip off his trousers. They knocked heads in their haste, and he moved back. “Let me finish.”
“May I watch?” she asked. He liked that she asked him. He couldn’t see her watching, but he liked that she let him know she wanted to.
“If you like.”
“I do.” Her voice dropped slightly as he removed his trousers. “You’re all muscle and sinew and leashed strength.”
He paused. “Leashed strength?”
“Too flowery?”
“It sounds as though you’ve been reading Gothic novels.” He tossed the trousers aside and climbed into bed, just as naked as she.
“And how would you know how they sound if you hadn’t read one yourself?” she teased as she pulled him into her warm embrace.
“You caught me,” he said against her lips.
“Yes, I did.” She kissed him long and deep, her hands exploring him as her tongue teased his. He couldn’t get enough of the feel of her under him. She was slim but strong and solid. She wouldn’t break easily, and that made him want to treat her all the more gently.
He kissed her jaw, her neck, her breasts all while his hands relearned the shape of her. When his fingers found the soft curls between her legs, she was already wet for him. He wanted to slide inside her and bury himself deep. But just as he nudged her legs open, she moved over him, pushing him back and throwing one leg over him until the heat of her sex met with his waiting cock.
She didn’t take him inside her yet, and Nash could hardly breathe waiting for her. Instead, she slid her hands over his chest, up his arms, and back down again. Then she moved, slowly, to his face and slid the hair away from his damaged eye.
“Pru,” he said, trying to shake it back into place.
“Don’t,” she said. “I want to see your face when I do this.” She moved her hips and the friction made him catch his breath.
“If you insist,” he grit out as she took his head inside her tight warmth. She leaned forward and locked her hands with his, pinning him to the bed as she took more of him, so slowly that he felt dizzy with need.
And then she moved her hips and he swore.
“Using the old Anglo-Saxon word?” she teased. “You have barbarian ancestors.”
“And you clearly have ties to Druids. You’ve bewitched me.” He clenched her hands as she moved. “God, yes.”
“I can see exactly what you like,” she said, her own voice tinged with pleasure now. “I want to see your face when you climax.”
He stilled for a moment then looked up at her, wishing he could see more than the vague shape of her. “What does it look like?” he asked. “My left eye? I’ve never seen it.”
She stilled, and for a moment he feared she would tell him something ridiculous, like you’re beautiful. But he wanted the truth. This was the only time he’d ever asked this question, and he wanted to know how badly he was scarred.
“You have dark brows,” she said finally. “They’re part of the reason your scowl is so lethal, but on your left side the brow is bisected by a scar, a thin line that runs almost through the center of the brow.”
He’d felt that raised ridge of skin and knew what she said was true. “Go on.” He hadn’t meant for her to go on riding him, but she moved her hips then, slowly and gently.
“The scar descends over your eyelid.” Her voice was a bit strained now as she slid against him. “And down just beneath your eye. The skin there is pink and still a bit raw, though I imagine given a few more years the scar will whiten and fade.” She swallowed. “Nash, yes. Like that with your hips.”
For a moment they were both lost in the sensations of their bodies coming together, but he wanted to hear more.
“Go on,” he said breathlessly.
She paused and caught her breath. “Ah, it’s hard to think. Ah...I can see where the—was it shrapnel?”
“We think so. That or a piece of brick dislodged by a pistol ball and turned into a projectile.”
“Yes.” She rolled her hips and he could feel her body beginning to tense, knew she was getting close to climax.
“Go on,” he said.
“The shrapnel or brick flew at your eye, and where it struck is white and cloudy. You have such beautiful blue eyes, but part of your left is scarred. But it doesn’t look much