"Most men wouldn't be so content with a mere kiss. Nor would they have waited so long for it. Why are you different?"
"It is not your kisses I come for, my lady. It's your tender company that means so much to me ... though now that I've had a kiss from you..." He placed a chaste one on her lips.
She laughed then gave him a much deeper kiss. Mmm ... the taste of him and the length of his long, hard body ... He was so insanely delectable. Never in her life had she wanted any man as much as she wanted this one.
Human or not.
Wanting to please him as much as he pleased her, she took his hand into hers and led it to her breast.
Styxx sucked his breath in sharply as he felt her through the soft linen and his body hardened to the point of pain. Slowly, he ran his hand over the contours of her breast then swept his thumb over the taut nipple. His body on fire, he wanted to sink himself deep inside her so badly that he could already taste it.
But he would never dishonor her like that. Never make someone cry because he'd touched them. Especially not his Bethany.
He involuntarily flinched as he remembered how he'd felt when Estes had purged the drugs from his body and he'd first realized how badly and rudely they'd used him.
Like he was nothing.
Bethany pulled back with a frown. "What's wrong, Hector?"
"What do you mean?"
"You jerked just now like something bad went through your mind. What plagues you, my lord?"
Sighing, he laid his head against hers. "I'm terribly scarred, Bethany."
"I've never felt any on you, except the one on your forearm."
Not wanting to think about the cut his father had given him, he took her hand and led it to the skin he always kept covered with his chiton and chlamys.
Bethany hesitated as she felt the puckered flesh that covered his ribs. His scars were truly deep and numerous. "What happened?"
"I was burned."
"Oh, Hector..."
"And there are more. In more private places."
Turning in his arms, she knelt between his legs. "You know I don't care."
"But I do."
She kissed his hand and offered him a bittersweet smile. "Then I will patiently wait until you trust me more. But know that I would never, ever hurt you in any way."
Styxx stared at her in awe. She was the only person in his life to say that to him, but did he dare trust her? Everyone in his life, including his twin, had betrayed him. Trust always meant profound pain....
And Bethany's would sting most of all.
Even so, he couldn't help the way he felt about her. How much she meant to him. In all the world, she was the only thing that mattered. Cupping her face in his hands, he kissed her. "I love you, Bethany."
"And I love you."
"Then run away with me."
She pulled back with a frown. "What?"
"Now. Today. Let's leave this place and-"
"Hector, I can't do that. I have things I have to do here. And so do you. What would your father say?"