Page 43 of Lash

She exhales softly as my lips touch hers. "Lash. Kiss me. Please."

So, I do.

For the first time since that awful day, I allow the calcification around my heart to soften. I allow the atrophied muscle of desire to flex, to come alive.

I let out a breath and let my sorrow, which I have held on to so tightly for so long, exhale with it.

I cradle Tatiana’s beautiful face in my hands, glorying in the softness of her skin and the anticipation in her eyes. I start small, merely questing my lips against hers. She sighs, and her fingers dimple into my nape, digging in at my hairline, her thumbs grazing behind my ears.

"Lash," she whispers, my name a breath, the movement of her lips on mine. "More."

A deep, wild hunger flickers to life within me, a gaping, yawning chasm of fierce need—cold skin craving the warmth of touch, hard planes craving the softness of curves, the ache of emptiness craving the fulfillment of love.

I twist to press her against the railing and palm the back of her head in one hand, cup her cheek in the other, and deepen the kiss. She whimpers, and her tongue sweeps against mine and her mouth opens, soft and wet and warm and inviting. I can't help but growl in satisfaction and desire, crush my hardness against her softness.

My heart slams in my chest, my pulse pounds in my throat. "Tatiana…my god. What are you doing to me?"

She pulls back and smiles up at me, fisting my shirt in her hands. "Kissing you."

My hands tremble. "It has been so long since I felt…" I close my eyes, shake my head, search for the words. "Anything at all, let alone such a potent desire."

"I never have," she murmurs. "Never. It is a little frightening, is it not? In an exhilarating sort of way."

I've lost track of who is speaking which language. It doesn’t matter. We understand each other.

"Yes," I agree. "A little frightening, and a lot exhilarating."

"Kiss me again, Lash. The way you kiss me, I never want to stop."

"I worry about getting carried away," I say. "If we were alone, I never would stop."

She grasps my beard and pulls me back in for another kiss, and this time she cups the back of my head and keeps a tight grip on my beard and sweeps her tongue through my mouth with a soft, delicate moan of pleasure.

My hands take on a life of their own, raking down her waist to grip her hips, and then the taut bubble of her ass. She moans as I cradle her ass, crushing herself harder against me.

Her breasts flatten against my chest, and she is all I feel, all I hear, all I smell, all I taste. Every sense, every synapse is attuned to her.

She pulls away from the kiss, and I feel her smile curve against my lips. She nips my lower lip between her teeth and grinds her hips against mine. "I want you, Lash."

"Tatiana," I growl, panting. "You make me feel like a madman. I am at the end of my control."

She rests her forehead on my shoulder, and I press my mouth and nose into her hair, inhaling her scent. I grunt in shock when she dips her hand behind the waist of my jeans and delves down to cup my erection. "Lash," she whispers. "God. God, I need you."

"Tatiana…we can't. Not here." I grab her wrist but can't make myself stop her touch. "Fuck."

"Where can we go to be alone?" She murmurs. "I need you. I fucking need you like I've never needed anyone or anything. I feel like I might die if I don't have you soon."

"We are on a boat in the middle of the sea," I say. "There is nowhere to go."

Slowly, with obvious and immense reluctance, she pulls her hand out and grips my shirt with it. "Soon, Lash. Promise me. Please."

"Soon," I answer, the word a growl, a hoarse breath. "Whatever it takes, Lovely One. Soon."

"Promise?" She traces my lips with her fingertips.

"I promise. The moment we can steal away and be alone together, You and I, we will…" I shake my head as words fail me. "We shall discover one another."

She huffs a laugh. "I want to do much more than merely discover you, Lash." She presses her lips to my ear, breathing sensual promises. "I want you naked and all for me. I want to ride you. I want to be beneath you. I want to taste every last inch of you. I want you to come so hard for me that you forget your name. I want you to forget everything but me, Lash. I told you, I'm selfish."