Diana shrieked in frustration, her hips jumping against his grip as her building orgasm dissipated.
Drawing back her head, she glared at the silvanus.
“You fucking dick,” she seethed as she slapped his chest.
He lifted an eyebrow in amusement and rolled his hip beneath her. The action surprised her so much that she had to cling to him to keep from being unseated. This was apparently the reaction he wanted because he turned in one swift move, tipping her to the side in the mossy cushion of their bed.
Leaning over her, still pressed in the cradle of her legs, Silvas ran his fingers over her collarbone before sloping down the swell of her breasts to linger on her nipples. Careful of his claws, he gently began to pluck at her nipples, making them harden, distend, and flush to a rosy red hue. As he toyed with the sensitive tips, his eyes lowered to half-mast in pleasure as he observed his play. Diana noticed the purr that resumed just before his head dipped to nuzzle the mound of flesh.
The slick, cold touch of metal dangling from his antlers against her skin made her jerk in surprise and hiss. His eyes lifted and fastened on her as dark tongue slipped out to stroke over her nipple. The alternating heat of his mouth and the cold, sensuous slide of the metal made her arch into his touch.
Raising one hand, she tangled her fingers within the bejeweled strands of gold that teased her. The move had been instinctive on her part; she hadn’t even realized she had done it until Silvas pulled away and pried her hand free. Kissing her palm, he set it against his chest as Diana leveled him with a hurt look.
She wasn’t allowed to touch his jewels? That was some kind of irony.
Silvas groaned and shook his head, the gold clattering again. “Do not look at me like that. I cannot bear to have you touch them.”
So that’s how it is.
“I guess my hands aren’t good enough to touch them?” she asked before she attempted to withdraw.
Silvas pulled himself higher over her body, blocking her beneath him, until he was able to look down into her face. She was left with little choice but to meet his angry eyes.
“Never say that of yourself,” he hissed. “I would be pleased to have your hands touch me anywhere. But I hate for you to touch them, but not because I don’t want your touch. I don’t wish you to touch them because… I am ashamed of them,” he snarled as he looked away.
Diana was so surprised by the outburst that she stared up at him. He didn’t speak for several moments while he attempted to regain control of himself. When he looked at her once more, his expression was hard.
“I allowed this. My vanity allowed females to adorn me in jewels to win my favors. I will tell you truthfully that I displayed them like trophies. Ropes of jewels from numerous nymphs and denizens of my domain for them to honor me as their king. I was proud of them,” he said, but his eyes were hard with shame. “Proud of how easily I won them. But now I wish for nothing more than the ability to remove them so that nothing remains of them. I wish no reminders of others when I’m only yours.”
Diana blinked at him. She hadn’t expected this, especially not after she insisted on going back home. His devotion and dismay over the gold falling in brilliant waterfalls of metal and gems from his antlers made her heart ache.
“They are imbedded into the antlers. I can’t take them off,” he rumbled, flawlessly predicting her question. “I would, though, if I could.”
“I don’t mind them,” she whispered, and found it to be true. The reminders of former lovers sucked, but the shining glints against the white velvet fuzz covering his skin, and the pure ivory hue of his hair—she couldn’t deny that they were beautiful. Her eyes trailed over them as she felt his fingers pet her again in what she guessed was a soothing stroke.
“You don’t?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I don’t. In fact, I think that you should let me touch them. I can claim them as mine—every single one.”
His lips in a sweet smile as he lowered his head until his jewels caressed her cheek. With a gentle hand, she stroked several the chains that drifted over her skin.