CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE ISI #2
“Learning you.” His palms flattened against my ribs, his thumbs gliding across my nipples.
“Every sensitive spot. Every place that makes you quiver with need.” When he cupped water and let it trickle between my breasts, I bit my lip to hold back a sound.
His teeth grazed my shoulder. “I want to hear you gasp and moan. I want to know exactly what my touch does to you.”
His hands moved slowly, as though I might break beneath his fingers.
“I won’t shatter,” I said, my voice shaking with need.
“You won’t.” His lips brushed my shoulder. “But you’ve been through enough. Let me be gentle with you.”
My chest split open with a laugh that was half-sob, half-delight. “Gentle? From the big, bad warrior who’d faced down my father’s court and hordes of Skathes? Careful, Trew, or I’ll start thinking you’re going soft on me.”
He laughed against my skin, his hands sliding lower, sending sparks racing through me. “Hush and let me spoil you.”
His hands moved lower, washing away the grime and fear from our escape. He traced the curve of my waist, the dip of my lower back, every touch both practical and intimate.
When his fingers found the scars on my back, three raised lines from my father’s whip, he went still. His voice dropped to something dangerous. “I hate that you’ve suffered.”
I looked up at him. “These are my scars. My revenge.”
His jaw clenched, and he nodded. Then he lowered his head to kiss each mark, his lips gentle against the raised skin.
My breath shuddered out of me.
I turned again and ran my hands over his chest and shoulders. “My turn to wash you.”
He started to object, probably state some noble concern about letting me serve him, or perhaps remind me he was in control of this situation, but I cut him off with a look.
“I said it’s my turn,” I said firmly. “And I plan to be thorough.”
His expression shifted, his surprise giving way to heated interest. “How thorough?”
“Everywhere.” I traced one finger down the center of his chest, watching his pupils dilate. “I’m going to learn every scar and sensitive spot. I’m going to discover what makes the mighty rebel king beg.”
His breathing hitched. “Isi.”
“What’s wrong?” I let innocence color my voice while my hands mapped the hard planes of his abdomen. “Losing your nerve?”
“Never.” But his voice came out strained when I traced the line of muscle that disappeared beneath the water’s surface. “Just wondering what happened to my sweet princess.”
“She grew claws.” I nipped at his jaw. “And teeth.”
I cupped water in my palms and smoothed it over his skin, learning the landscape of him through touch.
When I reached the marks on his ribs, I paused. “Do they still hurt?”
“Sometimes. I’d take them again right now if it kept you safe.”
I kissed them again like he’d kissed my scars, my lips trailing over each line.
His hands fisted at his sides, his control fraying.
“Isi.” My name came out as warning and plea.
“Hmm?”
“You’re testing my restraint.”
“I don’t want your restraint.” I looked up at him through my lashes. “I want every wild and kind part of you.”
His control snapped. His hands shot out, gripping my hips and pulling me flush against him. The evidence of his desire pressed hard against my stomach.
“You have me,” he growled. “I’m yours to command, to break, or to bind. Whisper your desires, and I’ll kneel at your feet, worshiping your every curve.”
“Then kneel, my rebel king.”
His kiss was possessive, his tongue sweeping into my mouth as his hands roamed over my body. Every touch made my skin feel too tight, too hot.
I pressed closer, needing more contact, more of him.
“Hair,” he said against my mouth. “Need to wash your hair.”
“Later.”
“Now.” He pulled back, his breathing ragged. “Because if I don’t do this properly, I’m going to take you right here without finishing what I started, and you deserve better than that.”
The care in his voice undid me.
“Fine,” I said. “Wash my hair.”
His smile was full of pure masculine satisfaction. He guided me to a shallower part of the pool where I could sit on a submerged ledge. Then his fingers threaded into my tangled hair, working through the knots with surprising gentleness.
“No soap,” he said. “But the water should help.”
I closed my eyes, surrendering to his touch. He massaged my scalp, working through the remnants of Mae’s creation. Random pins clinked against stone as he removed them one by one and tossed them out of the pool.
The intimacy of it stole my breath. This wasn’t about desire or need. This was pure tenderness.
When he’d worked through all the pins and tangles, he cupped water and trickled it over my head, rinsing. I tilted my head back, letting the water sluice over me.
At my guidance, he settled onto the ledge beside me, and I moved between his legs. His hair was shorter than mine but still long enough to run my fingers through. I mimicked his movements, massaging his scalp, working through any knots.
He groaned, his head falling forward.
“Like that?” I asked.
“Exactly like that.”
I took my time, drawing out the moment, savoring the way his muscles relaxed beneath my touch. This man carried the weight of a kingdom on his shoulders. He’d walked into certain death for me. He’d never stopped fighting. I would give him this. Peace. Care. Love.
When I’d finished, I pressed a kiss to the nape of his neck.
“Mmm, if this is how you unwind me, I may have to declare you my personal attendant forever,” he teased, his voice a rumble of contentment mixed with rising heat. “But fair warning, Minx. Keep kissing me like that, and I’ll have you pinned against this ledge, showing you exactly how grateful I am.”
I nipped at his ear, my hands lingering on his shoulders. “Promises, promises. I love you fierce and undone, Trew.”
He caught my hand. The heat in his eyes had intensified, and his pupils had blown wide.
“I love you,” he said. “I need you to know that. Every stubborn, fierce, beautiful part of you.”
My eyes filled again. “I love you too.”
He cupped my face. “Be brave with me. Build a life with me. Marry me, Isi, not because fate demands it, but because my soul recognized yours from the moment our eyes met. You’re the fire in my veins.
I don’t want a goddess on a pedestal, Isi.
I want the woman who stabbed me and stole my heart in the same breath.
I’ll spend every day proving that yours is the only throne I ever wanted to kneel before. ”
My thoughts scattered, and now I couldn’t hold back my tears. “Yes.” The word came out choked. “Yes I’ll marry you.”
“Isi. Love. There’s no one I adore more than you. Say it again. Tell me you’ll be mine, with all your stubborn spark and that smile that drives me wild.”
I grinned through my tears, wrapping my arms around his neck. “Yes, you impossible man. I’ll marry you. Today, tomorrow, and every day after that. But only if you promise to keep looking at me like I’m your greatest treasure. And maybe ravish me under the stars every chance we get.”
His laugh was pure joy filled with hunger. “Deal sealed, Minx. Now let’s start practicing that ravishing part.”
His hands slid down my sides, gripping my waist and pulling me onto his lap. I straddled him, the position bringing us flush together. The hard length of him pressed against my core, separated only by water.
I rolled my hips.
His guttural groan rang out.
“Tell me what you want,” I said.
“You.” His fingers dug into my hips. “All of you. Every way I can have you.”
“Then take me.”
He kissed me hard, his tongue sweeping into my mouth as his hands roamed over my body. He cupped my breasts, his thumbs brushing my nipples until I gasped against his mouth.
“That’s it,” he whispered. “Let me hear you, love.”
His mouth moved to my neck, kissing and nibbling on the sensitive skin there. I arched into him, stroking his back and sides.
When his lips closed around one nipple, I nearly came apart. He sucked and licked, his teeth grazing the sensitive peak until I was writhing in his lap.
“Please,” I gasped.
“Please what?” His breath was hot against my skin. “Tell me what you want from me, Minx.”
“I want you to lose control,” I said, meeting his eyes. “I want to watch you come apart the same way I do for you.”
His jaw clenched. “Careful what you ask for.”
“I know exactly what I’m asking for.” I shifted in his lap, pumping myself against his stiff cock. “I want your hands on me. Your mouth. I want you to claim every bit of me until there’s no part that doesn’t belong to you.”
“And after?” His fingers dug into my hips. “When I’ve licked every curve and tasted every secret place?”
“Then I’ll return the favor.” My smile turned wicked. “Until you’re the one begging.”
The sound he made was half-growl, half-surrender. “You’ll destroy me.”
“That’s the plan.”
His hand slid between my thighs, his fingers finding my center. He stroked my clit and rolled it while I bucked against him.
His touch was slick with the mineral water, circling my swollen clit with enough slowness to make my thighs quake. I gripped his shoulders, digging my nails into his skin as sparks of pleasure burst through me.
“Trew, more.” My voice broke on a whimper.
He chuckled, his breath hot against my ear. “Patience, Minx. Tell me how badly you crave me.”
“Almost too much.”
“There’s never too much.” He circled my clit with featherlight pressure, then plunged a finger deep inside me, stroking that sensitive spot that made my core clench like a vise.
I cried out, my voice hoarse and strangled, the stretch burning deliciously as he added another, scissoring them to open me wider.
“That’s my girl,” he growled, his free hand gripping my hip. “Ride my fingers like you own them. Show me how badly you ache for my cock.”