eyes squeezing shut.
Daroch pulled back. “Are ye frightened, little Banshee?” he murmured.
She pressed her face into his neck, and shook her head ‘no’ as she trembled against him.
He smiled against her temple, pressing a kiss in the downy curls there. He’d forgotten all about women. How complicated and contradictory they were. How creatures so soft and delicate could be so strong and resilient. Even if they had to start by pretending.
Against the velvet skin of her slim back, his hands felt big and unwieldy. He dropped his lips to her neck as his fingers explored the dip of her waist, the flare of her hip, and the curve of her bottom
She let out a sigh against his ear, turning her face to press her lips to his jaw, then his neck, then the sinew where his throat connected to his shoulder. Her hands also traversed the muscles of his back, their feather-light touch tickling along sensitized skin until he was certain he’d go mad.
Daroch realized he couldn’t see her. Couldn’t be certain that her eyes were shut. He pulled back, his skin instantly missing the contact.
True to her word, her lids fluttered against her cheek, but they never parted.
“Lie down,” he ordered thickly, thinking the better of pushing her to the ground.
Kylah nodded and sank to her knees on the furs before stretching herself out on her back.
Daroch stood above her, tremors wracking his own body borne of epic amounts of restraint and dominant desire warring within him. He’d never had anything so lovely displayed before him. Never had a question or experiment consumed him with such absolute obsession. He needed to know this woman. Needed to touch every inch of her, learn every recess and secret she possessed. To learn and master every desire and fantasy she could conjure and surpass it. To overcome every fear. To revel in every pleasure.
He needed… her.
“Daroch?” Kylah’s voice had become uncertain. “Are you...”
“I’m here,” he soothed, quickly divesting himself of his trews and joining her on the furs. She instinctively reached for him, pulling his mouth down to hers. “You may take me now,” she consented against him.
A renewed wave of lust pounded through him at her words.
“I must taste you first.” He kissed her throat, her chest, and headed to the softness of her quivering, magnificent breasts. Yes, he must taste those.
“Nay,” she whispered. “Take first, taste later.”
Heat seared straight to his loins at her words, but he forced himself to wait. “Kylah, it’ll be better for you if I—”
“I’m losing my nerve.” She opened her eyes then, they were liquid pools of vulnerability. “But I want you inside me. Please… do it now.”
For a brief moment Daroch was completely paralyzed between primal desire and fear. What should he do? She’d opened her eyes. She was looking at him with expectation and want. And in order for him to take her, she couldn’t be. She needed him now. But he hadn’t prepared her for him.
“Do you trust me?” he asked her.
Kylah’s eyes widened, but she gave a slight nod.
Daroch lifted himself away from her, and nudged her to lie on her stomach. The sight stole his breath. Her hair curtained her face hiding her and, more important, himself. He settled atop her pressing his lips against the blades of her shoulders as his hot length came into contact with the soft skin of her thigh. The sensation ripped through him and he drew a sharp breath through his teeth.
She gasped and tensed beneath him, and he was careful not to burden her with his weight. Daroch held his breath as he eased her legs apart and positioned the throbbing length of him at the aperture of her thighs. He could feel the wet heat of her and every muscle in his body clenched.
“Kylah,” he gasped.
“Yes,” she demanded on her own tortured hiss.
Daroch let out a raw sound. He’d meant to go slowly. To ease inside and let her body adjust to him. But in a desperate moment he found himself buried to the root and pulsing with a white-hot pressure. She was so tight, almost unbearably so. Had he not known better, he’d have thought her a virgin. But she was also slick, her body welcoming him and bearing down against him all at once.
He whispered her name again, moaned it, dropping his forehead onto her back. It bloomed with sweat, his or hers, he couldn’t be sure. “Gods… fuck… are ye…Did I…?”
He felt her flesh tighten around him and he