The Darkness Calls (The Transfigured Ones 1)

“He is. You’ll like him, though,” Talan admitted. “He’s the only other person besides you that treats me like a person. He speaks his mind and doesn’t tiptoe around me.”

“That would be important in a business partner. He’d have to stand up to you or he’d get trampled,” she said.

“Trampled?” he asked, arching an eyebrow.

She gave him that indelicate snort of hers and explained, “You’re a powerful man who’s very used to getting his way. Your business partner would have to be both smart and strong-willed or they’d be replaced.”

Talan considered her assessment and then said, “You’re absolutely right.”

“I know,” she replied smugly.

He couldn’t help but laugh. She had him pegged already. He found that he rather liked it. He was used to being catered to. He was used to being feared. He was definitely not used to being considered just because someone wanted to understand him.

He watched as she lifted her hands from the tub. She said, “I’m shrivelling, Talan.”

“I see,” he said. “Would you like to leave the tub then? Is that what I’m hearing?”

Before she could answer, he wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her against him.

She wiggled and then took in a sharp breath when she felt his cock stiffen against her lower back.

“See what you do to me,” he whispered in her ear. He dipped his mouth to kiss along her shoulder.

Lilly shivered against him and said, “It’s the same thing you do to me.”

He smiled and said, “Come, little one. Let’s get out of the tub before you turn into a raisin.”

A few minutes later they were curled up under the covers. She lay in the crook of his arm, their legs tangled together. He stroked a hand idly through her hair. The way she relaxed against him, he was almost certain she was drifting to sleep. He didn’t blame her since he felt delightfully relaxed himself.

“Sleepy?” he asked.

“Not sleepy. Just very content.”

“Same here,” he admitted. “It’s been a long time since I’ve curled up with someone.”

“Not much of a cuddler?” she asked as she traced her fingertips lightly over his chest.

He captured her hand and said, “When you’ve been alive as long as I have, things tend to lose their shine. Food, drink, movies, music, sex. It’s been awhile since I’ve been with anyone and even longer since I’ve been in a relationship—nearly twenty years.”

Lilly was silent for so long that he began to wonder if she’d fallen asleep. Eventually she looked up at him, a plea in her voice. “You can’t say things like that to me, Talan.”

“Why not? They’re true.”

She studied him for the longest time before she said, “I have a hard enough time now controlling my feelings where you’re concerned.”

“Then we’re very much on the same page, Lilly. I feel things. For the first time in longer than I can remember, I enjoy being awake because I know I’ll get to see you soon. Experiencing things through your eyes makes the things I once thought were so mundane seem interesting again. I feel like a new man, and none of that would be the case without you,” he said, earnestly.

“You make me feel so special,” she said softly.

Finally, he thought. She was understanding him. “You are special.”

A smile dawned on her face as she said, “So are you.”

Unable to resist her anymore, he flipped them until she lay partially beneath him and then crushed his mouth down on hers. He tried, without words, to show her the depth of his feelings. Certainly there were fears about the future, but in this moment, he was absolutely certain that he loved her, and he wanted nothing more than to show her.

When she gave a low moan in the back of her throat, he let his hand slip down to cup her bare breast. Lilly shifted beneath him, rolling her hips against his in silent invitation as he plucked and teased her nipple. His cock hardened, even though intellectually he knew there was no way they’d make love again tonight. She’d flinched when he ran the washcloth over her earlier. As much as he’d like to be inside her, there was no way it wouldn’t hurt her.

He let out a groan of his own when Lilly’s hand snaked down between their bodies and wrapped around his cock. When her warm palm began to slowly but firmly stroke him, he tore his mouth away from hers and said, “Like that. That feels so goddamned good.”