His mouth circled a hot, damp path around her nipple, making her moan with eagerness as the circle tightened, teased, and backed away.
She’d had her share of court affairs, but finding pleasure through the obscuring lies of glamour was a trick. Josh’s big hand wandered places of her body secret from her phae lovers, a surprise even to her: the curve of her lower rib, the back of her knee as he drew her leg up, the fine bones of her ankle.
When he ran his hand along the inside of her thigh, she realized he had dipped his fingers into the salve. The fragrance ringed her, and he slipped one finger inside her at the same time as he finally closed his lips over her nipple.
She bucked against him, a wordless demand, and he obliged with a second torturously slow finger. The flat of his tongue laved her breast in a long, winding caress that echoed the lingering screw of his hand.
His thumb—slick with salve, just a little work roughened—found the exposed center of her yearning flesh. He circled once, twice, ah, the magical three times, and she came apart in a shower of flower petals.
At least it felt like that, like some rogue wind kept blowing her in every direction, higher and higher. She came again and cried out his name, careless of the consequences that came with naming.
When she caught her breath, she had to glance at herself to make sure she was intact and that her glamour hadn’t slipped. But the satiny, drifting feeling lingered as she stared into the arrogance of his grin.
“God, you are so hot,” he murmured. “So damn ready.”
She held her arms open to him. “Let me show you how ready.”
He surged up over her, his hair mussed from her hands, his lips reddened. Flushed and flawed. The scar gleaming across his eye reminded her that all her courtier lovers had been perfect. At least their glamour had always been perfect. She had never revealed her weaknesses either.
But Josh had no such reservations. With his arms braced on either side of her, he was poised exposed, his chest wide open and vulnerable. Like the thrust of his engorged flesh, he had no fear, and she wanted that bold conviction. She centered herself under him, canting her hips to meet his.