With her face held firmly against his chest, and her legs spread, and the whole of her stability—her satisfaction—dependent on Tallis, she finally gave up on thought. She was being penetrated and consumed. There was nothing of hers that he didn’t master. Taking. Giving, until Kavya held nothing back. The beautiful pleasure became the pounding of drums. Bright. Sharp. Loud. She cried out against his chest, then bit into firm muscle.
And burst apart.
She shook and gasped as distilled pleasure bathed her nerve endings. Sugar and wine and rain. Behind her lids was only white upon white.
Tallis grounded her.
Until it was his turn.
He slapped both hands back on her ass and immobilized her pelvis. She hadn’t realized how much freedom he’d given her to move. This was for him. He took. Head lifted, Kavya watched him hurtle toward release. She could sympathize now, envy now, appreciate now—how the tendons on his neck were tight cables and how his bared teeth gave him the appearance of a man in pain rather than on the cusp of pleasure.
“Kavya,” he breathed—a whispered growl. “You’re real.”
She crossed her arms behind his neck and pulled their upper bodies close. She was coming again, slower this time, but with a stronger power, diffuse, slamming her from all sides. Finding one of those tight tendons, she bit his neck as the shocks and aftershocks, ripples and undertow sucked her down again. In a beautiful fog, she realized what he needed.
“I’m real, Tallis. I’m Kavya of Indranan. You’ve just made your goddess into a woman.”
He growled, tensed, drove deep one last time, until his breath became her name in a shuddering chant.
—
Tallis slowly eased free and lowered Kavya to the ground. Her knees buckled as she took her own weight. He was exhausted, his mind blown, his body sated, but he pulled her to his chest in a protective, solid hold. The wall at his back was steady, just as he was steady for her. They stood that way, naked and vulnerable. He traced the length of her drying hair. She made a contented sound and nuzzled deeper. Her cheek pressed into the hollow between his pectorals. She’d be able to hear his heart, which was only beginning to return to a normal pace.
She shivered.
The room was cold, but only with that delicate shake of her shoulders did Tallis realize it. He stooped to grab one of the towels and threaded it around her back. She hugged into it, then returned to his embrace.
“Thank you,” she whispered against his skin.
He was humbled. He was definitely speechless. Few events in his life had affected him with such power. To have pleased her while being given the gift of her trust was miraculous. This wasn’t something he could smile about while walking away.
Especially when she shifted her weight and winced.
He glanced down. “Oh, fuck. Your feet.”
Blood smeared the concrete where she’d rested the weight of one foot.
“It’s not as bad as it looks. You know it’ll be healed by morning.”
Tallis was unmoved by protest. “Come here.”
“Another go? So soon? I guess I never thought to wonder if Dragon King men possessed yet another gift—one human men would envy.”
Returning her arch smile, Tallis scooped her into his arms. “And here I’d thought I was just a special case.”
“You are a special case,” she said, swirling her fingertips through his chest hair.
“Now you’re just being a flirt.” But her words were enough to still his heart—before sending it speeding to double time. “Sit here. I’ve got your back.”
“That’s the sexiest thing a man can say to me.”
He nuzzled the hollow beneath her jaw. “I’ve got better. You just caught me out in a laundry room.”
“Took you by surprise, did I?”
“Very much so.”
“Good. I wanted to.”
Tallis turned on the warm water, still supporting her so that she perched on the edge of the deep utility sink with her feet dangling inside. “Why was that important?”
“I was at a disadvantage. You’d given me a preview, but I didn’t know what to expect. I’m not used to going into a situation where I can’t get a read on it. I liked that you didn’t know what was going to happen either.”
“With you, Kavya, I never know what’s going to happen.”
She turned to kiss his shoulder. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Because he was again at a loss for words, Tallis set about tending her injured soles. “Lean forward and grip the faucet. Hold your balance while I grab more towels.”
She did so, naked and glowing with clean skin, vibrant energy, and the sexual authority of a woman who’d been thoroughly satisfied, and who apparently knew what it was to level a man with her creativity and responsiveness. Tallis had been leveled. She peeked sideways through her draped hair, watching him as he gathered a trio of towels. Her smile was soft and private, yet invited him to return.
He draped the towels all over her. “As much as I’d want warm water for you, it has to be cold.”
“To help stop the bleeding. Yes.”
Taking each calf in hand, with his chest pressed against her graceful back, Tallis realized that no matter how satisfied he’d been by their first encounter—that was the catch. He wanted to think of it as their first, not their only. The first of many. Because her calves were beautifully sculpted with soft muscle and elegant bones. Her feet were dainty. Her ribs were narrow but told him that her breathing was picking up speed again. Those details were innumerable.
He’d never learn them all in the span of a few days. That realization stabbed regret behind his sternum and choked off his next breath.
A quick fuck against a laundry room wall wasn’t enough. He was a greedy ass for wanting more than what had just blown reality onto another plane, but there it was. He wouldn’t be satisfied with one taste of this woman. His deeper, animalistic soul wouldn’t be either. There was tenderness to be had, and there was blood-stirring aggression—the kind he hadn’t been able to indulge for her first time.
Kavya hissed when the cold water sluiced over her feet. “Oh, Dragon be. That’s just mean.”
“At least it’s not the mountains?”
“I’ll never be warm when thinking about that day. Not ever.”
She began to shiver in earnest. Tallis held her closer, sharing his warmth. He rubbed her upper arms and the tops of her thighs. A gentle moan worked out of her throat.
“I guess that’s not so terrible,” she said.
“But we don’t need you frozen either.” He used one of the towels to pat dry her soles. The terry cloth came away tinged with watery pink. “Not perfect, but better.”
He hoisted her from the sink and sat her on the pile of white he’d tossed down from the wire shelf. She still huddled into one towel, but it didn’t cover beautiful glimpses of her body. Copper skin poked out everywhere. The backs of her hands, the slope of her throat, the tops of her knees. He shook his head and focused on his task. He couldn’t get them up to a room without looking the part of a guest.
The hotel room was the goal. He wanted her there, in bed, in his arms.
Then they’d talk about Scotland. He had a plan, finally. She needed to know why he was contemplating the unthinkable.
Going home.
Tallis pulled on his new clothes.
“That’s hardly fair,” she said with a smile.
“You’re the invalid. Get better, then you can make the rules. I’m not playing nurse while kneeling naked.”
“You just don’t want me to see you when you’re not so Dragon-damned impressive.”
He wiggled his eyebrows above a smirking smile. “Doesn’t matter. You know what’s waiting for you when you want it.”