Once in a Blue Moon (Beaux Rêve Coven 1)
Page 16
She shrugged. “I suppose. I’ve never seen you in your true form.”
“And you won’t. Not unless I have to protect you.” He held out his hand. A hint of his earlier arousal was there in his dark eyes. “I’ll be staying in your room.”
Not a question, but she nodded, agreeing. “Of course.”
“Kahn and Sigurd understand that so long as they watch over you during the day, they are free to woo the others.”
She jutted her chin. “You didn’t offer them the chance to share?”
His grunt was wickedly masculine. “Do you really think you could handle more than me in your bed?”
She remembered the immense pressure. She was sure, once she was accustomed to his girth, that just the act of him entering her would be enough to set her off. “No. I don’t want another lover. And we have a bargain. You’re free to include that stipulation.”
“Then I will. Come to bed.”
As meek as a lamb, she allowed him to lead her through her house and up the wooden staircase. She passed the girls’ rooms, heard laughter, smelled the heady mix of testosterone and estrogen, of arousal so thick her own body began to warm, her breasts and pussy to thicken with her stirring blood.
She stepped around the pallet of blankets and quilts that Kahn had made for himself outside her door. He was jinn, and his talents would have more naturally aligned with Radha’s, but Bryn understood her sister’s reluctance to accept his proximity. He was seduction incarnate when he smiled. His mouth was sensual and mobile, his black eyes filled with mystery. He’d probably scared the dickens out
of Radha.
“Sigurd’s on the porch,” Kahn said. “He wants to run in wolfskin tonight.”
She nodded, uncomfortable with the way the men talked openly about their true selves after having suppressed her own for so long, except in front of her sisters.
Ethan followed her into her room and began to disrobe.
She stiffened.
He studied her face and stopped when he was wearing only his boxer briefs. “I’ll sleep on top of the covers.”
She shook her head. “We’ve passed that point. But this is an adjustment for me.”
“And I told you before we mated that I’d respect your right to tell me no.”
“I can’t tell you that,” she said, her eyes beginning to well with tears. Her need was strong. And he knew it. A tremble shook her frame, and she gasped.
There was understanding in his eyes. Perhaps a little sympathy. A witch’s heightened state of arousal when in the company of a mate wasn’t something she was prepared to fight. Especially not when she knew the pleasure he would give her.
She turned and lifted her hair. And just as he had in the gazebo, he moved closer and pulled down her zipper.
Chapter Five
‡
Ethan stripped her quickly, taking care with her pretty dress, but not so much with her underwear. It lay shredded on the floor at her feet.
“You’ll have to replace those,” she murmured as she glanced over her shoulder.
“You won’t be needing them again, ever.”
While she’d been frightened the first time she’d seen the greenish glow in his darkly hooded eyes, now the intensity of emotion that forest-green light betrayed only fueled her own passion. “You’d allow other men, human men, to see the prick of my nipples?”
His response was a deep, rumbling growl.
She smiled and turned to face him. “Can I tease you? Or will you unleash your inner self?”
“I’m in control. Always, Bryn. You’ll come to no harm with me.”