Page 64 of His Asset

Chapter Twenty-Four

Iwas breathless, dizzy, the room narrowing around me.

He drew back first, but it wasn’t because he wanted to stop.His gaze was worshipful, his voice a reverent whisper. “Let me show you what I couldn’t give you before...what’s always been yours.”

He rose from his chair, his hands finding my waist, pulling me up before I could think to resist.My light sundress tightened across my back, trapping my wings.They quivered, restless, until one of their hooks caught the fabric and tore it open with a soft rip, like a breath released after being held for too long.

Heat flushed through me as the ruined fabric slid down my arms.My wings shivered free, fanning wide and low before the ends surrounded him.Firelight danced across their membranes, casting us in a halo of gold, the world outside ceasing to exist.

He froze, his eyes wide and gleaming in the flickering flames.“Your wings...”His voice faltered.“You’re so damn beautiful.”He pressed his forehead to mine.“Every inch of you,” he murmured, voice rough with awe, “is perfection.”

His hands traced my sides, then up along my wings.Every touch sent sparks racing beneath my skin.Desire, trust, fear, and longing tangled together, heavier now with the memory of the last time.This wasn’t naive passion, it was permission, fragile and needing to be earned, interwoven with everything we’d yet to properly share.

“I’ve waited so long to show you real pleasure this time,” he said against my lips.

I trembled, the storm inside me absorbing his heat.When his hands slid lower, guiding, exploring, I didn’t stop him.I no longer doubted, only trusted.

He drew away the last remnants of fabric—my bra, my panties—each movement slow, reverent, each unveiling a revelation, an offering.

He pressed his fingertips under my wings, coaxing them out wider, their membranes glowing softly, enclosing us further in a private world of warmth and light.I’d never imagined my wings would be so revered.The feeling was so profound, so intensely soul-touching, it was addicting.

His lips found mine again, deep, worshipful, each press of his mouth against mine an apology and a promise.“I never meant to hurt you,” he whispered against my lips.“I just needed you to survive.Now...it’s only about us.”

I clung to him, letting go of any lingering fear, the hurt from our last intimacy, and the hesitation that had shadowed every touch.When he drew me fully against him, everything we’d buried—love, anger, grief, longing—ignited and burned clean.

“I’ve wanted you for so long,” he said softly.“I’ll never stop wanting you.”

He lifted me in his arms and carried me away from the table and into his bedroom.I inhaled his essence, his dark spiced scent that was so uniquely him, and I burned hotter, my need for him growing fiercer.

He placed me on the edge of his bed and I sat, reaching up to undress him.First his jacket, then his ruby tie, which I tossed aside.My fingers shook a little as I unbuttoned his shirt, revealing the golden expanse of his corded torso, the little puckered scar where I’d stabbed him with the sharp hook of one of my wings.I traced its edges, remembering the turmoil, the fear of leaving behind my kind...the only family I’d ever known.

He cupped my face and drew my stare up to his.“I wear my wound with pride.After you left, every time I saw my scar in the mirror, every time I thought back to why you made it, I was even more determined to find you, to explain.”

I smiled, softening for him.If only I’d known, so many doubts and fears could have been erased.

He pushed me back onto the bed, and I opened to him, ceding control as our lips merged.One of his hands slid down, deftly massaging me, making me gasp and writhe, the pain of our last joining dissolving like dust in a whirlwind.Desire eclipsed all else as he rubbed relentlessly, my back arching, my breasts pressing up in the perfect position for his mouth.

His lips left mine to kiss and suck the tip of one breast, his mouth dominating and lavishing me with pleasure.The head of his shaft grazed the top of my thigh as I squirmed, and I wrapped my hand around him, feeling the satiny warmth stretched over a hardness like set concrete.

He exhaled roughly, his breath warm against my skin.He drew back slightly, his face strained.“I want to show you so much love, but even I have limits.”

I shook my head, locking eyes with him.“I’m ready—for you—for this.Ready to become one with you.”