“You… you can feel what I feel,” she whispered.
He nodded.
For a moment time seemed to be suspended as she studied him with her dark, tear-filled eyes.
Then she leaned in and rested her forehead against his.
She trusts me.
Pain slammed into him, so deep and fathomless that it frightened him. How could this young woman be carrying such a burden?
He held her closer, stroked between her shoulder blades with his thumb.
The pain steadied and found a rhythm like a pulse.
Please, let me take it all. If only for a moment, let her taste peace.
But her breathing was steadying, and the pain was fading back slightly.
He felt something else now too, the warmth of comfort and acceptance.
I’m giving her that.
Pride shot through him, and he wished this connection worked in the other direction, that he could let her see how it made him feel to be helping her. How glad he was that she cared for his children.
He allowed his hands to move upward and stroke her dark mane. Her hair was soft and impossibly silky.
She sighed and he felt a blanket of peace begin to settle over them both.
“Good,” he murmured.
She snuggled closer to him, and the pain retreated further.
Instinctively, he pulled her down on the bed with him, embracing her with his whole body.
She curled into him, burying her face in his chest, and the pain became a distant hum.
He held her for a long time, until he could sense her heartbeat slowing at last.
Then he felt a rainbow of that curious emotion arc between them again as she flattened her palms against the planes of his bare back.
His body responded instantly to her gentle touch, and he hissed in a breath, feeling like a monster.
“S-sorry,” she whispered.
But she didn’t stop touching him, her small hands continued to stroke his back, sliding from his shoulders down to his waist.
He felt his pleasure and hers at once, his nerve endings sizzling with sensation.
Desire rose in him so quickly that it took his breath away. He pulled back slightly to look into her eyes again.
They were hazy with a need he could feel pouring off her.
“Yasmine,” he whispered helplessly.
She tilted her chin up slightly.
He surrendered with a growl, pressing his lips to hers as he tugged her closer, half-drunk with the sensation of her need.