She arched into the scrape of his calloused fingers as he cupped her nape, flowing toward him on a sigh. The frantic beat in her blood slowed to something quieter, but no less powerful as he covered her mouth again. His kisses obliterated all thought, all worry, until there was only this. Only him.
The robe slid down, baring her shoulders for his mouth. She made to drop her arms, but he held them, trapped, as he kissed his way along the length of her collar bone, up the column of her throat before skimming the shell of her ear. Fire kindled low in her belly and she sighed his name, part encouragement, part plea.
He took her mouth again with another of those long, drugging kisses, and when she surfaced, the robe was gone. Running his hands down her arms, he laced his fingers with hers and stepped back. Nerves began to jump as he drank her in.
“Exquisite.”
Marley smiled a little. “Your turn.”
Her hands sought skin. She shoved up his t-shirt, impatient. “Off.”
He readily complied. It was her turn to look her fill, absorbing the strong, muscled breadth of his chest. She ached to stroke and kiss the runes etched into the skin, but didn’t want to send his mind back to the dark. Lips curved, she ran her hands down the sleek slope of his abs toward his belt. As she worked, he skimmed both hands up her sides, bringing them up to cup her breasts.
Her hands fumbled. “Ian.”
“I never promised to stand still,” he said against her throat, and she could feel the smile in his voice.
His thumbs brushed lightly over her nipples, and the belt buckle suddenly became a complex piece of engineering. He kissed her again, his tongue sliding past her lips to dance with hers in a rhythm echoed by the strokes on her breasts.
Marley gave up on the belt and twined her arms around his shoulders, glorying in the feel of his heated chest pressed to hers. Her head was spinning, dizzy with want. No, her whole body was spinning. Ian shifted her around so the bed was at her back before grabbing beneath her thighs and lifting. Her body slid up his, her aching center pressed against the straining arousal behind his fly. Then she hit the bed and the heat of him was gone.
Blinking away the haze of passion, she watched as he made quick work of the jeans. She had only a moment to appreciate the view of his warrior’s body, an impression of dusky skin, before he joined her on the bed. His mouth blazed a fevered trail up her torso, and down again, causing her abs to quake. He took his time on the return trip, skimming lips and fingers up the insides of her calves, her thighs. Her body tensed as he neared her core, but he continued his leisurely path upward. Marley reached for him, trying to pull him higher. But he refused to be moved, intent on lingering in the valley between her breasts. He dragged his tongue up one slope and drew one taut peak into his mouth.
She arched up, biting back a cry. He shifted to the other side, stroking a hand along her waist, her hip, the length of the leg she curled around his back. She couldn’t move, not really, pressed beneath the weight of him, and the limitation was both pleasure and torture as her hips strained to buck against him. Seeming to sense her impatience, he shifted, and a burst of triumph shot through her.
At last, at last.
But he didn’t move up her body, reaching between them instead to cup her heat with one hand. The breath clogged in her throat. Marley reached for his face, bowing up to take his mouth, just as he pressed one long finger inside her. She exploded off the bed.
Impatient, frantic, she hooked a leg around his hip and rolled, shoving him to his back. Surprise and amusement flickered over his face. “I like a woman who knows what she wants.”
“Just you,” she murmured, and shifted to take him inside her.
His big body arched up to meet her. She held motionless for long moments, her body accommodating to his, deliciously full. Their eyes met, clung. The air thickened, and she bent to brush her mouth to his. “Only you. Always.”
At the blast of heat, she pulled back and was dazzled. Light burst around them as a thousand candles sprang to life from nothing. Awed, delighted, she laced her fingers with his and began to move. Pleasure battered her senses as she chased the delicious tension, her body whipping them both to a frenzy. She had the satisfaction of watching the last vestiges of his control snap. His eyes flared silver and his body surged beneath hers, matching her beat for beat until they both flew over the edge.
~*~
Sated on every possible level, Ian was pretty positive he’d never been this relaxed. He stroked a hand down and back up the length of Marley’s spine. Her skin was so gloriously smooth, he couldn’t seem to stop touching it. She sprawled over him, her hair spread out across his chest, her face pressed into his throat. He thought she was asleep until she shifted a millimeter to kiss the pulse in his neck.
“You’re a snuggler,” he said. The idea of it made him grin foolishly.
“I’m not snuggling, I’m boneless,” she said. But she nuzzled closer as she spoke. “I’ll move in a century or so.”
“Don’t you dare.” He felt her smile.
“You sure? I can practically feel you vibrating with energy.”
It was true enough. He’d never been this well-fed. Strength and power coursed through him, enough to make him feel as if he could scale Everest twice over. “Well, I could go run a marathon or we could find other uses for that excess energy.” He trailed his hands over her ass and down the back of her thighs. “Pretty sure there were several inches I missed the first time. Like this incredibly sexy new tattoo.” He traced a finger along the length of the branch, thinking it suited her. Bold and feminine.
Marley folded her arms across his chest and peered down at him, a smirk flickering at the edges of her mouth. “Well, you’re nothing if not thorough.”
He schooled his face to perfect seriousness. “I’d be remiss if I didn’t work on developing your patience.”
One dark brow lifted. “Oh is that what you call it?” Fresh desire kindled around her.
Ian smiled, brushing the hair back from her face. “I never knew it could be like this.”