lock of hair behind her ear, he told her, “You were magnificent today. A fierce protector of your land, and your male.”
“I know.” With a sensual maneuver he would forever replay in his fantasies, she shimmied out of the robe. The dark cloth puddled on the floor as Chantel stood proud before him, wearing azure lace over her breasts and between her legs. Miles and miles of creamy skin, flushed with arousal—and marked with a crimson map.
He looked her over, amazed. Humbled. Awed. When he returned his gaze to hers, her irises were set aflame, blazing with wildfire. “You drew this yourself?” he asked, voice breaking at the edges.
“I used dye the servants made with my roses. It’s the reason I was late to tonight’s festivities. Well, one of the reasons. The map details the palace. The mystical doorway. The treasure troves. I wanted to be perfect for you, no matter what you decided.” A pause. Then, “Do you like it?”
His gaze shot back to hers, the fire in his irises brighter. “I will never part from you. Woe to anyone who tries to take you from me.”
Something shuttered over her eyes, and his heart skipped a beat. Then she purred, “Do you want me naked, Kaysar?”
He forgot every thought but one. “I need you naked, sweet.”
He watched, mesmerized, as she freed her hair from confinement, the dark tresses tumbling into place. The mind-boggling things he felt in that moment... He nearly staggered at the extraordinary weight of them.
“Let me tell you what I need,” she breathed, her eyes hooding. “Your kiss. Your touch on every inch of me. Love my body in a thousand different ways and help me forget the hours we spent apart before and the hours we’ll spend apart next. Give me everything you promised. Hold nothing back.”
Next? The honeyed scent of her desire frayed his control, and he pushed aside his foreboding. “Everything. Nothing,” he croaked. She’d utterly consumed his thoughts. “Show me more.”
She trembled a little as she unhooked the upper garment, bearing her beautiful breasts and their tight ruby nipples. A groan lodged in his throat.
“The rest. Let me see the rest.” Missed her so much. Missed this. The sweet exchange. The sense of communion. The utter peace of passion, every other facet of him shut off.
She dragged her panties down with a waggle of her hips. The cutest kick flung the material away. Then she stood before him, bare.
And he’d thought her proud before. Head high, shoulders back and those lush breasts thrust up for his view, awaiting his caress. “I will play with your body until you scream for me,” he boasted. To seal his vow with a kiss, he dipped his head and sucked on one straining crest, then the other.
Her moan of surrender echoed as she shoved her fingers into his hair. He kissed his way up her sternum. The length of her throat. Straightening, he met her gaze. Dilated pupils, glassy irises. He loved how quickly and intently she desired him.
“I’ll brand your body until you never forget me,” she boasted back.
Awareness crackled in the space between them, the pull stronger than ever before. But even then, he felt as if she were slipping from his fingers. No. He wouldn’t let her. With a snarl, he cupped her backside and her nape in unison, forcing her closer.
* * *
COOKIE OPENED UP, eagerly greeting Kaysar’s tongue with her own. She moaned her pleasure, overcome.
He eased the tempo of his kiss, as if her reaction soothed some ferocious beast inside him. Fast and uninhibited became slow and deliberate, every stroke of his tongue a sensual onslaught.
Possessive. Primal. Ruthlessly...gentle? To gentle her?
He wasn’t kissing her anymore. He was making love to her mouth. Seducing her until she had no air in her lungs. Until she couldn’t survive without him and didn’t want to try.
With an expertly executed movement, he kicked her feet apart and inserted his knee between her thighs. Leather razed her aching clitoris, and she cried out at the exquisite bite of bliss.
Panting a little, he lifted his head and pressed his fevered brow to hers. “You are precious to me. Tell me you know that. Tell me you know I will freely die for you.”
“I do know.” She truly did. But she would rather he lived for her. “You are precious to me, too. I love you. One hundred percent.”
Whiskey eyes soft but fierce, he rasped, “You love me?”
“So much.” Her legs teetered, almost too weak to hold