“You're not going to make me beg?” he asked, flashing a grin.
She guiltily looked down as she quietly responded. “That would be a wasted moment.”
“Hey,” he whispered, and her thick lashes fluttered up, revealing the deep, emerald eyes that, on so many unpredictable occasions, left him breathless.
“Hey back.”
His lungs found air again, and he pulled a curl to his nose, sweetening the oxygen. “Even if I die tomorrow, I'll be able to say I was a lucky man; that I lived a blessed life where my most amazing dreams came true. You've made my life breathtakingly beautiful and uniquely divine, and no matter how this turns out, I'll never regret one second I've had with you. Eleven days is short, but it's been long enough for you to provide me with more happiness than most people discover in a lifetime. For that, I owe you my heart and soul, and they're yours.”
More tears slipped from her lids, and he quickly kissed them away while working his fingers into her hair. With her cheeks momentarily dry, he moved his lips to hers, and she could feel herself getting sucked in, just as she could feel herself being pulled back. She was halfway between the dark state-of-mind their troubles generated, and the glorious peace-of-mind their relationship provided. If someone stood in her brain, they could look to the left and see a black abyss, then look to the right and see a bright and beautiful haze.
Layla turned toward the light, snapping the chains stretching from the dark while moving toward the silver wisps sweetly summoning her. No wasted moments. There was still so much she wanted to do with him, so much she wanted to show and tell him; sides of him she wanted to see and words she wanted to hear. There were parts of him she had yet to touch, and ways he had yet to touch her.
She closed her eyes, turning her intense focus to the sensations produced by contact with him – the blood pulsing her pout each time his lips brushed hers; the twitching at the corners of her mouth each time his tongue lightly licked; the tickling of the nerve-endings around her eyelids when his thumb dried her tears; and the tingles that stretched across her scalp when he gathered her hair in his fist.
She could also feel the rhythm of her heartbeat – solid and steady; and her breathing – slow and deep. And by expanding her focus, she could feel her skin thrumming at her pulse points, and the air whispering across her feet. She'd managed to search out all the sensations her body was undergoing and could concentrate on all of them at once. She'd heard of others achieving a similar state-of-mind through meditation, but this was the first time she’d ever experienced such intense self-awareness.
Keeping the feel of her body in the forefront of her mind, she vanished her robe then did the same with his shorts. When her skin was exposed to the air, when it should have chilled, her heart beat hard, and hot blood rushed her veins, warming and stimulating her flesh.
She blindly found his hand then drifted his fingertips down her neck, reveling in the tingles and goose bumps sprouting along the trail. As she pulled his hand lower, a chill swept across her shoulders and shot down her spine, and she shuddered from head to toe.
His heavenly appendages were between her breasts, warm and pliable, so she took his forefinger and brushed it across one of her nipples. The flesh puckered beneath his compliant touch, and her breathing deepened as she provided her other nipple with the same treatment. She slid his fingers lower, quivering when they flitted across her abdomen. Then she formed her hand to the back of his and slipped it between her thighs.
Her breathing was no longer slow, but it remained deep, and her heartbeat had gone from solid and steady to powerful and sporadic. He wasn't kissing her, but his parted lips touched hers as she breathed into his mouth, compelling his fingers to press and caress her in all the right places.
If ever there was a heaven on earth, Quin was in it, his body throbbing as he watched his angel’s expression, inhaled her sweet breath, and touched her sultry sex. It was difficult – keeping his fingers relaxed as she manipulated them to her pleasure. He itched to do things his own way, explore more territory while staking claims on more prosperous realms. But to see and feel her leave her troubles behind using his hand as transportation merited more than mere willpower and patience. He’d sell his soul to be at the center of all her experiments, to remain her mode of transportation, so he remained motionless, his heart thundering as his lungs swelled.
Her back arched, her alert nipples entertaining his chest as she took his fingers in both hands and opened her thighs, exposing herself to full discovery.
He squeezed his eyes shut, swallowing hard while willing his hand to stay limp in hers. Then he returned his gaze to her face. Her expressions and aura were beyond stunning as she worked her way up the mountain of pleasure; and each crinkle of her nose, tweak of her eyebrows, and flutter of her lashes sent an extra burst of need down his spine to his groin. She was almost to the top. He could see it and feel it.