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His lips moved over hers slowly, sensuously, as he savored the heady brush of flesh against sensitive flesh When her tongue darted out, he nipped it lightly then stroked it with his own, pulling it into hishis breath He needed her beneath his spread And it would be so easy So easy because he knew exactly what she wore under that shirt of his Nothing Absolutely nothing

With a few deft strokes of his fingers he could make her want him as badly as he wanted her She was his prisoner, now He held all the power

And for that reason, he held back He wouldn’t take advantage of her Not when so oddess, he wanted Hisinside herthe taste of raindrops Her soft hands slid around his neck and into his hair as she kissed hi every thrust

His breath beca in time with hers until they both sounded like they’d been running hard and fast He thought he’d happily drown in the taste of her, in the scent of violets

Her hand slipped down to his bare chest, her touch alrazed his nipple, then lifted to his shoulder and down his ar the muscle beneath her hand

Over and over, he told himself this was just a kiss Just a kiss But the heat built, second by second If there had been power orbs in the rooht What was it about her that sent his passion spiraling into orbit and had hi like the sun?

His hand moved down to slide over one sainst his paled, hard and throbbing with need Take it slow But he had to touch her He had to feel that flesh beneath his pal better than to reach under her shirt if he wanted to retain any scrap of sanity at all, he unbuttoned her from the top instead, two buttons, then three, until his hand slipped freely inside As his palripped the back of her head with his other hand and kissed her hard, desperately, inhaling her Needing her

The feel of her hand on his shaft jerked him out of his insanity even as it threatened to send hith born of all he’d watched her suffer, he forced hientle hold of her wrists, pulling her hands to hishis, heat and uncertainty swirling in their depths as he kissed her pal you there?" she asked, no feigned innocence in her eyes Her uncertainty was all too real

"I’e of you"

Her delicate brows drew together "How does e?"

He squeezed her hands softly "You’ve had to give yourself to too many people, for too iven myself to anyone Others have taken But you’re the only one I’ve ever wanted, Paenther The only one I’ve ever touched like that"

Her words tightened the band around his chest and only inflamed his desire more

She pulled her hands fro down at hie Her eyes held soft vulnerability and raging heat

"Do you want ripped her waist because he couldn’t keep his hands off her "That’s not the issue"

"I think it is Your body’s ready for me, Paenther I felt it But I won’t push you I kno you feel about the Mage"

He tightened his grip on her "It has nothing to do with your being Mage I want you, little witch I’ for want of you I just think we should take it slower You deserve that"

Her expression softened, and she leaned forward and kissed hi around his neck as she turned and brushed her cheek to his, like a creature starved for touch Exactly what she was, he realized

He pulled her tight against him

"I e had in the woods that day, before you knehat I was" Her words, against his ear, were but a whisper She was starting to tremble "It’s never been like that before Or since I want you to touch ain"

She pulled back where she could face hi into his eyes with a trust and a tenderness that slew hiain And I need to be close to you"

She was shooting his good intentions to hell, but he was beginning to understand Yes, she’d been used, but the worst thing Birik had done to her was isolate her From kindness and comfort From tenderness and touch She’d had her aniht But she’d lacked the touch of her own kind

He remembered the way she’d crawled up beside him on the stone slab Even after he’d attacked her and torn a chunk from her arm, she’d curled around him in sleep She’d al hiht not be Feral, with his own animal need for physical contact, but she was more at one with the aniered for that contact

With hiiving birth to a tenderness he wasn’t sure he could contain Without a doubt, she was casting a spell over hi a net around his heart A net he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to escape

"You want ainst her temple His hand slid down her hip, to the hem of the shirt that covered her

"Yes, Paenther Yes"

His fingers curved around her warh, then started a soft, sensual climb to her heat

Chapter Twelve

Skye curled her hands behind Paenther’s neck as his warh and curved around her hip She’d begged hiain, to take her in the most basic way Her body quaked with anticipation even as her heart swelled with a raw affection for this man who had so , entleness, than anyone since herlines of his face, those high cheekbones and the feral slashes across his eye, then dipped to his ain

As if reading herher ue into his mouth even as he shoved his into hers She craved his kiss and his touch Three times he’d come inside her, but only one of those times had he been free to touch her Only that time in the woods when she’d captured him, and it had all happened too fast