Sin froze as he felt the impossible. It couldn't be... His jaw dropping, he pulled back to stare up at Kat. "You're a virgin?"
"Yes."
That confused him even more. "How?"
She lifted her chin, and when she spoke her tone was heavy with sarcasm. "I've never been with a man before."
He rolled his eyes. "I know how you're a virgin, my question is how did you manage to stay one?"
"I told you, they keep watch on me."
Yeah, but for eleven thousand years? Damn. That was extreme. "They're not watching you now."
She traced the line of his eyebrow while a smile twitched at the edges of her lips. "No. Only you're watching me."
Sin still didn't understand it. "Why would you wait all these centuries and then throw it away on a whim? You barely even know me."
Her expression had to be the tenderest one any woman had ever given him, and it made him melt. "I know you, Sin. I've been inside you... and I want you inside me. Is that so hard to understand?"
Part of Sin wanted to curse her and the tender feelings she stirred inside him. He wanted to tell her she was nothing and that he didn't need anything from her.
The other part of him wanted only to hold her. To crawl into her arms and have her soothe him even more than she already had.
In the end, it was his anger he listened to. He couldn't afford to open himself up to her or anyone else. He' d been hurt enough in his life. The last thing he wanted was to bring any more ??pain into his life. He was through being used and through being manipulated. "This won't give you any hold over me."
"l don't expect it to."
"Then what are you hoping for by sleeping with me?"
"Nothing, Sin." Her gaze was so sincere and guileless it actually sent a wave of guilt through him that he'd been so suspicious of her. "Nothing more than a few moments of pleasure. I don't want anything else from you. Promise." She made a small x over her heart.
He shook his head. It couldn't be this simple. It couldn't. "l find that hard to believe. Nothing comes free in this world. Ever."
"Then get up and get dressed." She looked to the right.
"There's the door. I'm sure you know how to use it. It's a really simple process. You put one foot in front of the other, turn the knob, and keep going."
He should do that. It was what he intended, but as she laid her hand against his cheek, he was lost by the tenderness. He just wanted to be held ...
Damn him for it. He was so tired of being alone. Of coming home to an empty room where he tended his wounds and lived for no other reason than to fight. He didn't even know why he fought anymore.
Why should he care about a world that couldn't care less about him? But when he looked at her, he saw things he hadn't seen in a long time. Compassion. Humor. Beauty. And that was one thing that was lethal more times than it wasn't.
His emotions were churning as she rolled him onto his back and laid her body against his. His senses reeled as she teased his jaw with her tongue and teeth. Her hair slid against his skin, tickling him. But it was the warmth of her body that seared him most. He was lost to her for now. Lost to her touch and her comfort.
With her holding him like this, he couldn't have gotten up if the room was on fire
Kat had seen thousands of beautiful naked male bodies in her lifetime. Flawless and perfect, they had come and gone.
None of them could compare to the scarred beauty of Sin's.
His body told the story of a man with no one there to keep him safe. In that aspect, he reminded her of her father. But Sin was nothing like Acheron.
There was a spiritual coldness to Sin. He was a man who'd been wounded so many times that he no longer believed in goodness. He couldn't even accept her kindness. What a frigid place to live in.
And all she wanted to do was warm him. To let him know that not everyone meant him harm. Some people could be trusted. Not everyone was out to hurt other people. There was still goodness and decency to be found.
But she wasn't sure he would ever believe that. He most definitely wouldn't if he ever learned the truth about the night Artemis had taken his godhood.