Lover Unveiled, page 27
Elyn turned to him, her eyes wide. “Wherever were you held?”
“Somewhere I didn’t want be.” He had to look away. “It’s not important where. I just know how hard it is for you right now. And it gets better, I promise.”
When he could manage to meet her eyes, he hoped she would open up and talk about her story, even though he feared the details.
“Are you safe now?” she whispered.
He nodded. “Yes. And so are you.”
She turned back to the mirror. “I am lost. I thought… I would be free, but I am lost.”
“I know and I’m so sorry. I’ve been where you are and it sucks.”
“Tell me.”
“I, ah, I… can’t.” He was not going to lose it in front of her. And somehow, talking about the lab was going to make him feel more naked than if he actually were naked. “I wish I could, but I can’t.”
Elyn drew in a deep breath. Then she reached across the space between them and took his hand. As she closed her eyes, he couldn’t believe she was touching him—
The bolt of electricity flashed through his body, and in the aftermath, he was immobile and totally numb, yet still standing. Then came the fluttering. At first, he thought it was something physical, but then he realized what was happening was in his brain. It was as if his thoughts were being shuffled, a deck of cards.
And then Elyn gasped.
In the midst of his strange fugue state, Nate focused on her eyes as they widened and the color drained out of her face. Tears formed and fell onto her cheeks, flowing down and dropping off the sides of her jaw. The shaking came after that, her mouth parting with the lower lip starting to tremble. With her free hand, she covered her—
Elyn dropped her hold on him and took a stumbling step back, her hip banging into the sink.
As the numb feeling drained out of Nate’s feet, sure as if it were a tangible level of some kind of liquid, he was aware of a great shame flooding into his void.
It turned out that however painful the lab had been, having Elyn horrified by him was a worse agony.
Clearing his throat, he focused on the boxes out in her room. “Well, I’ll just get started on these.”
Turning away from her, he—
Elyn jumped in front and embraced him so hard, he had no breath in his lungs.
“Oh… Nate,” she said in a voice that cracked. “Oh, dearest Virgin Scribe. What they did to you. To your mahmen. They hurt you.”
Nate was so shocked by the contact, by her scent, by her… everything… that the content of her words didn’t register. But then he caught up with everything.
Her hands were smoothing over his back. “I am so sorry.”
Nate wanted to hold her back. So he did—but things went further than he intended. He dropped his head onto her shoulder, opened up the internal lockbox he kept his horrible memories in… and went into his pain.
It had been a while since he had done that, the rhythm of his nights and days, the normalcy of life with Sarah and Murhder, obscuring his past—and thank fuck for it. Yet Elyn called that which he staunchly ignored to the forefront.
And somehow, though it was agony, her sympathy eased him in ways no amount of therapy with Mrs. Mary had.
Down on the first floor, people kept talking, and laughing, and making cookies.
Up in Elyn’s bathroom, the world stopped as two broken people became whole again. Through the magic of not being alone.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Sahvage put his shirt on the sink counter and focused on Mae. She was standing on the far side of the kitchen table, one hand gripping the gun he’d gotten for her, the other floating in the breeze like it was looking for something to do.
And what do you know, he had some suggestions for that—and she was clearly open to them: Her delicious scent gave her away. Her eyes, as they traveled down his bare chest, gave her away. The way she breathed… gave her away.
“Tell me, what do you want to see, Mae?”
Please God, let Tallah sleep for another hour, he thought. Two. Eight. Because the way Mae was staring at him? They had things to do together that did not need an audience or any kind of interruption.
“What do you want, Mae.” No question this time. “Do you want me to close this door?”
She answered that one without touching anything or moving. The wooden panel that separated them, the one that offered only a seam of sight for her, moved so that it opened more. So that she could see him properly.
All of him.
Sahvage certainly hadn’t willed the change of its position, and there sure as shit weren’t any drafts that could have done that.
So she had. Because what he wanted to show her was what she wanted to lay her eyes on.
And far be it for him to disappoint a female of worth.
His hands went to his belt, and he pulled the leather strap free of its buckle and tongue. Then he popped the button and waited with the zipper.
Mae’s chest was rising faster and faster, and her eyes were locked on what he was doing. And the scent of her arousal was getting thicker.
Which made him want to go slow as molasses—so this on-the-verge, which was both torture and pleasure, would last forever.
“Is this what you want?” he asked in a growl.
“Yes,” she breathed.
Well, wasn’t that the right answer.
Sahvage lowered the zipper—and his erection took it from there, bursting free of the lock-and-key it had been straining against, the thick arousal jutting straight out from his hips. As he let his pants go, they dropped to his feet.
She bit her lower lip and moaned. But she didn’t come over.
And that was hot.
“Do you want me to touch it?” he said in a low voice.
When she nodded, he took his hand and wrapped his palm around his shaft. He groaned—he couldn’t help it. He wanted it to be her doing the grip, and he wanted to be kissing her while she stroked him—and that was why this got to him so much. As he rode himself up and down, while watching her watch him, his mind spun with what it was going to be like when it was her. When Mae’s hand was on him. When she was making him come—
Fucking hot as fuck.
And she must have felt the same way because she tucked the gun away and came forward. With every step she took, he stroked. Stroked. Stroked. As she arrived at the door, he prayed she entered.
She did.
Over the threshold. Door closing behind her.
Except she leaned back against it, wrapping her arms around herself and staring at him. “Now is not the time.”
Her voice was incredibly disappointed, and what do you know. That shit speared through him like a sword.
Sahvage halted his hand, but did not release his hold. “I find myself wanting to argue the point. But as you can see, I’m a little self-interested at the moment.”
Mae’s pink tongue, her delicious, erotic, pink tongue, traveled across her lower lip. Then she nipped that soft flesh with her fangs, biting down like she was swallowing a moan.
“What if Tallah wakes up?” she whispered.
“I stop.”
There was a pause. And then, thank the frickin’ Scribe Virgin, Mae nodded. “I just want to see… what you look like.”
Bracing his free hand on the wall, he had a feeling he was going to need the help with his balance. “When I come?”
“Yes,” she sighed.
“Tell me what you want. You know, just so I’m sure I get it right.”
“I want you… to make yourself…”
“What,” he demanded.
“Come.”
That word leaving her lips made the world tilt and spin. And he wasn’t losing his chance. Even though he wanted his hands on her body, and he wanted to pleasure her, if this was as far as they were going? Fine. He was totally fucking into it.
Kicking his pants free, he went base to head with his palm, finding a slow rhythm that juiced his erection up more than some of the best sex he’d actually had—and that was not because of his handling technique. It was all because of Mae. Her mere presence, even without any physical contact between them, was hotter than the other females he’d physically been with.
He didn’t know why. And he wasn’t inclined to waste time on that one.
He had a feeling the answer would scare the shit out of him—
As Mae lifted her fingers to her mouth, she brushed her lower lip back and forth like she was imagining him kissing her—
Sahvage hissed and squeezed his eyes shut. He was so on the verge already and he didn’t want it to end so soon. This sacred space, just for the two of them, was like a vault locking out the world, and fuck, he wanted that right now. Had wanted this kind of amnesia for a long time.
Except then he had to pop his lids again. And get back to work.
As the heat rose, and his cock became hypersensitive, he tightened his grip and moved faster.
“Say my name,” he commanded. “I want to hear it.”
“Sahvage…”
“Do you want this?”
“God… yes.” She closed her eyes. But only for a split second. “I want you.”
“How much.” Faster. Faster. “Tell me how much.”
“So bad. Sahvage…”
As she moaned his name, he let go of the wall and grabbed a towel, but he didn’t cover the head of his arousal. He put the soft folds out in front as the ejaculations started so she could watch, so she could imagine him filling her up, his rhythm unchanging as he milked himself into her. And fuck, he wanted to keep looking at her, but the pleasure was so intense, his lids squeezed shut on their own.
Fine. He would just picture him on top of her, her breasts against his pecs, her legs spread wide, her body arching to receive what he was pumping off into her—
He started to come again. Before he’d even finished.
God, the only thing that could have made this hotter? Was if she were orgasming along with him.
* * *
Mae had to hold herself in place against the bathroom door. Sahvage’s body was magnificent, so powerful, so virile, the contracting muscles of his massive pecs and arms in stark contrast to her own body, that tattoo of his bringing an edge of danger, the scent of him too delicious to describe. And his broad hand on that thick erection? She was going to be seeing that on the backs of her lids for pretty much the rest of her sleeping days. Maybe during the waking nights, too.
God, she hoped Tallah didn’t wake up. For like a year.
Meanwhile, Sahvage just kept orgasming, and it was… beautiful. It was raw, and a little scary because he was so big. But he seemed to understand that opening the door—literally and proverbially—to her doing that to him was going to have to be on her time.
She couldn’t imagine pleasuring him like that. But she was willing to bet he’d show her what she needed to do—
Why not, she thought. What was she waiting for?
Mae stepped forward toward him, and as she did, she was nervous. Especially as his eyes flared like she’d surprised him. She was not turning back, though. When was she going to get another chance like this?
Especially because she knew he was temporary in her life.
“What do I do?” she said softly.
There was a pause, as if he wasn’t sure what she was asking.
“Anything you like.” He let go of himself and leaned back against the wall by the shower. “You can touch me anywhere you goddamn like, and any way you want.”
“But what…” As he looked at her in confusion, she flushed. “I, ah—tell me what pleases you.”
“Your hands on me. Wherever. Your mouth. All over me. That’s what I want.” Abruptly, Sahvage stiffened. “Mae… have you ever touched a male before?”
Well, crap. She wanted to lie. She wanted to front like she was sophisticated, like she was that brunette, all sexually confident. Like she was anything other than what she really was. But this was not something to hide, even if it made her cringe.
And besides, what did she have to be ashamed about?
Mae shook her head. “No.”
He blinked. Twice. And then he covered his sex with the towel.
Swallowing a curse, Mae stepped back. Until the closed door caught her shoulder blades with a bump.
“Changes things, huh.” She brushed her hair out of her face. “Sorry.”
“You have nothing to apologize for.”
“I know.” Clearing her throat, she shrugged and rubbed her upper arms for warmth. “My parents were super conservative so both my brother and I… well, that’s not important now. Such a mood killer, though. Looks like I’ll be leaving now.”
As she fumbled her way out of the bathroom, her heart was pounding and a chill followed her, although she had a feeling that was because the cold spot was inside her body and unrelated to any drafts.
The thing was, waiting until she was mated to have sex was how she’d been raised, and it hadn’t been something she’d thought a lot about. All her feedings had been supervised, and the couple of times she’d had her needing, she’d gone to the race’s healer for sedation. Finding a male and settling down had always been a sometime-in-the-future kind of fantasy. And after her parents’ deaths in the raids, romance had been the last thing on her mind. She’d needed to make sure she had enough money, and that the house was taken care of, and that everything didn’t fall apart, especially when it came to Rhoger.
Yeah, and look how well that had turned out.
But what the hell did all that matter now.
What she had to do was re-ice her dead brother. Because as gruesome as her nightly job was, it was a better option than being here with all her virgin status out in the open while a smoking-hot male took a lucky, lucky bar of soap for a test drive on his proverbial racetrack. And yeah, sure, she was supposed to be all self-actualized and stuff, all female-hear-her-roar, unapologetic of the choice she’d made about sex—which hadn’t felt like any choice at all, P.S.—but when you were attracted to a male and you were past the age when most females had had a couple of lovers? You felt like something was wrong with you.
And God, the way he’d covered himself? It was like he thought he was a dirty pervert or something. But come on, consenting adults and all that.
The bathroom door opened. And Sahvage came out, fully clothed.
Mae put her hand up. “Please. Don’t say it.”
“How do you know what I was going to say?”
“I can guess. You’re sorry, it won’t happen again, you didn’t know, couldn’t guess, didn’t mean to offend me.” She cursed under her breath. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
He nodded at something in her hand. “Are you leaving now?”
Mae glanced down and discovered she’d gotten her jacket and her purse. Huh. Go figure. “Ah, yes. I am. But I’ll be right back.”
“Mae.”
She closed her eyes at his tone. There was so much compassion in it, pity, too. And if that didn’t just suck the sexy right out of the air between them. Not that there was anything left of that heat.
Mae shook her head. “I can’t talk about this now.” Try, ever. “Besides, there are more important things to worry about. See you in a little bit.”
As she rushed toward the front door—because she was going to have to way chill herself out before she could dematerialize—everything was a blur and she fumbled with the dead bolt, her hands sweaty, her fingers sloppy. When she finally got things open, she all but jumped out onto the front step—and it took some self-control not to slam the door, not because she was mad, but because she was totally uncoordinated.
The night air was cool against her hot face and she took some deep breaths. She had to in order to ghost out, but her lungs were also burning and she felt as though there was a hand around her throat. Walking forward, she was vaguely aware of the moon overhead. Just a sliver, though, so it didn’t cast much light—
A shaft of illumination blared out of the cottage from behind her, her shadow going long over the winter-dead grass, the shape of her body distorted.
As she turned around, Sahvage came at her, and when he stopped in front of her, she gasped as he took her hand and put it between his legs. The ridge that was contained by his fly was still very large and very hard—
“You didn’t turn me off,” he said in a guttural voice. “I just was surprised, and I wasn’t sure how to handle it.”
He rubbed her palm back and forth against his arousal, and as she felt him through his cargo pants, he hissed and shut his eyes.
“Nothing has changed for me.” His voice was so rough, she almost couldn’t understand him. “At all. I still want you all over me.”
Mae tilted her head up to look at him, and at that moment, he looked down at her. There was a white-hot moment of anticipation—and then the kiss was immediate and intense, her arms shooting around him and holding on to him hard. His arms did the same. He was so big, and that was what she wanted him to be. She wanted him massive and hungry and heavy on top of her, capable of canceling out everything.
Even Rhoger and the Book and that brunette.
When they finally paused to take a breath, she stared into his stark, starving face. It was impossible not to imagine them lying down and looking into each other’s eyes while they—
As a shadow passed through the shaft of light, she glanced back into the house. Tallah was emerging from the basement, the cellar door opening.
“I’ll be right back,” Mae vowed as she stepped away from his body.
“I’ll be waiting.”
It took a moment to calm herself enough to dematerialize, and as she disappeared from him, she caught a glimpse of him pivoting back to the little stone house—
When Mae re-formed behind the garage of her parents’ ranch, she was smiling. And it almost didn’t matter whether they actually hooked up again. Just the fact that he accepted her as she was? That was enough.
Getting out her car key, she thought about what that kiss had felt like.
