He couldn't.
"You sure you don't mind?" he asked.
"Not at all."
Talon took a deep breath and headed back toward her.
His wife.
His ultimate salvation.
His ultimate destruction.
Nynia had been everything to him. He'd thought all these centuries that he was safe from his emotions. Safe from the pain that came with the memories of his wife.
Now it was all back. Even more painful than before.
"Is something wrong?" Sunshine asked.
"I'm just tired, I guess," he said, pulling his jacket off and setting it down.
Sunshine swallowed at the sight of his tight T-shirt that displayed his well-developed body. She was riveted by his impressive form. The man had the best butt leather had ever cupped. His legs were long, well shaped, and gorgeous, and all too well she remembered what they felt like when they were entangled with hers.
The feel of all his masculine power and beauty lying in her arms... thrusting between her legs...
She almost moaned aloud at imagining it.
But there was a wall between them now. As if he had closed part of himself off from her.
Gone was the tender man who had shared his body and laughter with her. Now she saw the powerful beast who had clobbered her attackers and sent them running in terror.
How she missed the gentler side of him.
"You've gone all stiff on me, haven't you?"
He arched a puzzled brow at her and looked baffled by her question. "Lady, I get stiff every time you come near me."
Heat rose in her cheeks and she scoffed. "I don't mean that kind of stiff. Though that kind of stiff is much better than the other one. At least with that one I know you like me."
Talon groaned as she glanced down at his pants where he was sure his erection was plainly visible. He felt his barriers crumbling. Felt a desire to be the man with her that he had always been with Nynia.
With Nynia he had been himself. She'd never expected that he be anything other than her friend.
Nyn had never seen the pathetic little boy who was spat upon and rejected. The one who had been made to clean up after his betters.
The one they had forced to grovel.
She had never seen the cold-hearted lad he had become because he was tired of being beaten and abused.
As a child, he had hardened his heart and learned to take their punches. He had learned to spit back and take down anyone who cast a jaundiced eye or who made a comment about either him, his mother, or his sister.
He'd told himself that he didn't need anyone's love or caring. And so he had learned to live like a feral animal, always ready to strike out when someone tried to touch him.
Until Nynia. She had tamed the beast in him. Had allowed him to be gentle with her. To be something other than hard and unyielding. Defensive and brutal.
With her he had just been Speirr. The boy/man who wanted someone to love him. Who wanted someone to love.
It had been so long since Talon had been himself with anyone.