Page 26

“You smell so fucking good,” he growled, his eye opening and finding her gaze, pinning her to the bed without his touch at all.

A wave of hunger rolled through Ember’s body as something new sparked in her chest. Severath had inhaled heavily near her many times, and she knew that demon senses were heightened, but she hadn’t thought he could sense…

gods, if he was smelling her arousal now, had he before?

He’d never looked repulsed by her, though, and everything from the veins in his arms to the twitching of his tail suggested he was enjoying it now.

Her legs inched apart, and her desire flared.

“You are not finished?” he asked, a twinge of hope to his growl.

She shook her head.

“But you would like to?”

She nodded.

“And you would allow me to stay?”

With a sharp inhale, she grinned and nodded again.

“You’ll show me what you like? How you like to be touched?”

Ember bit her bottom lip, fingers flexing. If she sat forward and reached out, she could touch him, but he was far enough away that it seemed safe. Perhaps even safer than when she was completely alone .

Slowly, Ember lifted the hem of the silky dress until it pooled at her hips.

She wiggled down slightly and trailed her fingers back to the most shadowed place on her body.

She was thankful for the darkness in the room, but Severath’s eye was on her exploring hand, and she realized that if he could smell her, he could probably see perfectly well in the dark too.

The fire in her belly was overwhelming at that thought, a welcome surprise. She might as well really give him a show then.

Ember let her legs fall completely apart and glided her fingers easily over her already wet center.

Her head fell back, and she sucked in a sharp breath at the sensitivity that was only heightened by Severath’s gaze.

She didn’t have to fantasize anymore, didn’t have to imagine what he would do.

She could see him struggling, see the tautness in the muscles of his neck, see how his jaw tensed, see sweat beading on his forehead.

She chuckled and slid farther down the headboard, circling herself with eager fingers. There was no use being quiet when he was already there, so she let out a low moan, eyes lidded but still tracked on his face. Severath’s fang bit into his lip, and his tail snapped against the side of the bed.

She cried out then, head falling all the way back as she built the pleasure in her core. Her free hand found her breast and teased her nipple through the fabric, and she arched her back into her own touch.

Severath’s claws dug into a knee, other hand wiping itself over his face and then grabbing the back of his neck as he watched. He was like an animal, but a well-trained one, wild at his core, yet perfectly behaved.

She moaned his name because he had earned that, slowing her tempo and spreading herself to be sure he could see.

Still but trembling, he grunted in response, a noise she had heard many times, but filled with more approval than ever before.

Ember bent one of her knees and inched her foot toward him. His eyes flicked away from her busy fingers to watch her toes as they slid over his knee and then up his thigh.

The look on his face was devastating as she barely caressed his thigh to the same cadence that she touched herself. She’d built her pleasure on an imagined version of him, but this demonstration of his restraint was just what she needed.

“It’s all right,” she said between panting breaths, dangerously close. “You can touch me.”

Severath swallowed, lifting a hand, retracting his claws, and then laying it on the top of her foot.

“Yes, Sev, just like that,” she huffed, the control in his chaste but shaking caress pushing her to the edge.

His calloused fingers slid up over her skin and wrapped around her ankle, firm but not unrelenting, and she broke apart under her own hand.

Ember cried out, body arching stiffly under the peak of her pleasure.

The warmth of his touch coursed through her, and trembling fingers continued to circle her burning core until her hips stopped bucking.

Drained from her release, her knees fell open wide. Severath still gripped her ankle, leaning forward like he would devour her, but he never left his seat. “Good boy,” she murmured and lifted her hand toward his hulking form.

Severath leaned into her palm, eye closing as he nuzzled, and then he took her fingers into his mouth.

A squeaky moan broke out of Ember’s throat in delighted surprise as she watched him lick all that was left of her.

The feel of his tongue coated her already wet fingers, each one sliding through his lips until he had cleaned her completely.

“You taste even better than you smell,” he growled and pressed his lips to her palm.

It wasn’t a kiss, she told herself, but simply a sweet gesture after the salacious one.

“Will you stay with me tonight?” she asked, the words terribly desperate, and though she didn’t care about that, a different distress flashed into her mind. “Not…not for more of this, but like the time before? When I had that dream, and you held me?”

“I understand, and yes, of course,” he mumbled. He appraised her body left exposed to him still, and then his brow arched inquisitively. “Are you going to yell at me again in the morning?”

Her lips curled into a smile. “Maybe.”

“I can live with that,” he said and climbed into the bed beside her.