A Stone in the Sea(44)

My breath went shallow again when he turned to reveal his profile, when he shifted toward the sink, washed his hands, and splashed some water on his face.

He ambled back out, not a lick of self-consciousness slowing him, the man parading all that God had given him. With both hands, he raked back the hair from his forehead, his face going coy with a grin at catching me in all my sly, covert gawking.

Right.

Redness flushed up my neck, and I chewed at my lip, dragging the sheet up tighter the closer he came, head tipping farther and farther back into my pillow as he came to stand right over me.

“Hey,” Sebastian whispered, sitting down at the edge of the bed.

“Hey.”

He splayed his hand across my belly. Through the thinness of the soft, satiny sheet, the heat of him burned me to the core. “You okay?” he asked.

Not even close.

“Yes.”

A doubtful, affectionate breath escaped his nose, and he played with a lock of my hair. “You’re a terrible liar, you know.”

His hand left my stomach, floated toward my face, knuckles tracing down the angle of my jaw.

Contentment left me on a sigh, and my eyes fell closed as I lifted to his touch.

Those knuckles trailed over my chin and down my neck, drifting down the center of my body over the sheet. “This sweet little body of yours tells it all.”

I opened my eyes to him where he watched me with concern.

“I’m trying to be okay,” I admitted honestly, hopefully. “Not sure I’m ever going to be the same after that.”

Okay, definitely sure. Maybe he didn’t need to know how vulnerable I was feeling, wondering if it was even possible that it had felt as good to him as it had for me.

An indulgent chuckle spilled from between the full lips of that pretty, pretty mouth. “Amazing, yeah? Haven’t felt anything like that in…well…forever. Love your pussy, baby.”

Um wow.

Okay.

I was pretty sure I could return the sentiment, of which Sebastian still had proudly on display, but there was no chance I could force something like that from my mouth.

I squirmed under the sheet, and he grabbed hold of the satiny material and tugged it free of my hands. Slowly he pulled it down, inch by excruciating inch, exposing my breasts, then my belly, the erotic tickle mixed with my full-body afterglow making me shiver.

Oh sweet lord. I was in so much trouble.

His voice turned gravelly as he climbed onto all fours, both his knees at my left side, and arms caging at either side of my head. From above, he drenched me in the penetrating intensity of those strange grey eyes. The second’s lightness that had seeped into the mood vanished. “You don’t need to hide yourself, Shea. Not from me.”

Slowly, he shifted to lie down at my side, pulling me to face him. He palmed the curve of my hip. “You are so beautiful. Do you have any idea? The first time I saw you? Thought you had to be the most gorgeous girl I’d ever seen. Now that I’ve seen all of you, I’m sure of it.”

Another flush, and I bit at my lip. “You…you literally stopped me in my tracks.” A small, self-conscious laugh tripped from me, and I tickled my fingertips across his strong chest and dared to peek up at him. “I’ve never been affected by anyone the way I am you.”

I tried to clear all the wispy emotion from my throat. It did no good, because it was still there in my voice. “I don’t do this,” I admitted.

Brows bunched up, Sebastian was touching my face again, trailing fingertips in the hollows under my wide, bewildered eyes, down my nose, a soft caress across my lips. The effect was always the same—a trembling mess of want balling in the pit of my stomach, my heart shooting into a fumbled sprint.

“You think I don’t get that?” he asked. His hand brushed at my cheek, and he leaned in, his mouth just below my ear. “I see you, too.”

Hope fluttered in the center of my chest—simple, simple dreams.

My thumb sketched along the ridges of the puckered, lifted scar that slanted sideways across his chest.

Caution filled his expression when he looked down at me, eyes narrowed. “Crash.”

Shakily I nodded, fingers trailing down to the deep scar over the ribs at his side. “Knife.” His voice became hard, like maybe he was sending me a challenge.

Cold dread splintered through my insides.

Sebastian lay there silently, staring at me like he was wondering when I was going to come to my senses and run.

Any sane girl would have done it a long time ago.

But here I was, submitting myself to him and his scars and the mystery hidden in his eyes. Asking for an exclusive invitation into it. Praying they were in his past. Hoping getting to know them would make a difference—that in the long run, it would mean something.