Page 56 of The Rake OR The Orca Who Met His Match in a Selkie Desiring Revenge

"Bite me?" Elspeth asked. Perhaps it should have terrified her, but she found the idea oddly arousing.

"If you choose me, choose to stay. Back home, we mark our mates with a bite. This is where I'll put my mating bite. Right where everyone can see. I'll make sure I have my orca teeth at the time, so everyone will know it's my mark."

Elspeth smiled, though her voice was stern. "You get to bite me. What do I get?"

"Oh, you'll bite me right back, little siren, wherever you like, though I hope it's visible too."

He pulled back to stare at her, his eyes moving as if trying to gauge her reaction.

"Well, that's alright I suppose." Elspeth smiled, stretching beneath him so that she pressed her ass back into him. "Well, sir, what do you plan on doing with me tonight?"

"Oh my lady," Aegir said, affecting a posh accent. “I wouldn't presume to tell you. What would you have me do?”

He was being silly, but Elspeth could tell he was also being serious, giving her the option to decide. This, following instead of leading, didn’t seem to come naturally to him, she could see it in the stiffness of his shoulders. In every version of him she knew, he preferred being collected, in charge, and yethe offered to give that up for her. He stretched, he tried to grow—forher—the least she could do was afford him the same.

“I think," she ventured. "I'd like to start with trying to have you touch me. "

Even the thought made her nervous, but she didn't see how someone as experienced as Aegir would put up with being in a relationship where he couldn't even touch his partner's skin. Or worse, he would, but he deserved better. He deserved to know the feel of his lover's skin.

"I'd like that." His voice was husky, betraying how much the idea appealed.

With trembling fingers, Elspeth untied the bows at her shoulders and flipped the top of the chemise down so her breasts were bare.

Aegir stared at her, desire and hunger open on his face. She shivered and adrenaline coursed through her, though she truly wanted this to work.

"If you agree, I think I'll start with my mouth, since it seems more palatable to warm you up a bit."

"I think you just want your mouth on me," she chastised.

"Oh aye, that's true. I'll not lie about it. But I think it's best regardless."

"You're right, of course."

With a smug smile, Aegir lowered himself to brush his lips lightly over the swell of her breast. It was the lightest touch, and his eyes were locked on her face to see her reaction. She nodded to him. So far, other than nerves, she only felt pleasure. Skittering excitement followed his lips as they traced a path down toward her nipple, and she gasped when he sucked it into his mouth. It wiped her mind and eased her worries. She was here, with Aegir, safe and cared for. The sweet suction of his mouth was decadent torture. He looked up at her and met her eyes before placing a hand gently on the skin of her shoulder. It felt normal, easy. Perhaps she'd only had the one episode and she wouldn't have the problem in the future. Aegir slipped his hand lower and around the bottom of her breast. He tested the heft of it and Elspeth smiled at him. This was working. All she needed to do was keep her eyes open.

That hand is Aegir, that mouth is Aegir. We're at his friend's house, on his boat, and I'm safe, and I love how he touches me. He's sweet and respectful, and so, so sexy.

The pleasure she'd felt with him before was building and lulling her to give into it.

Lips glistening with his saliva, Aegir lifted off her breast to add his other hand. He squished them together and flicked histhumbs across her nipples, zinging the feeling through her body until she shook with it.

"How are you doing, love?” he asked. "Still with me?"

"Yes," she gasped.

"Perfect," he said. With one hand, he pinched and tugged her nipple, and he moved the other just under her breast, to where her fur began. His touch was soft and reverent... but it didn't matter.

The second his hand brushed her hair, Elspeth's desire snuffed out. She froze and started feeling disconnected from her body. Before Aegir noticed, she tried to focus on the color of his hair, that it was black and white, and he was the one touching her—she wanted him to.

It didn't seem to matter. She floated away, entirely disconnecting from her body, because the alternative was to remember, and she refused to remember.

It only took a second for Aegir to notice, she realized vaguely. He'd sat up, his eyes focused intently down at her, but she barely registered it as something that was happening to her. He pulled the blankets up to shield her and lay down, close but not touching.

Elspeth floated in that between place where she'd lived for so long. Nothing could touch her there, and she simply existed.

After a while, she heard a sound, faint but soothing. It had a rhythm, vibrating her gently, but didn't seem to have words. It didn't demand her attention. It coaxed her sweetly until she felt safe to feel again.

When she came fully back into herself, the lights were low, and the curtain out into the city was drawn.