"For what?"
"For what you said in Malloryn's study about trying to save the blue bloods. I know that can't have been easy for you."
He sighed, toying with one of her wet curls. "Ava... you were right. I have prejudices, and they're hard to overcome. That hate's been ingrained in me for so many years, and sometimes it was the only thing that kept me going in dark days, but... you're right. Not every blue blood is a bad person. Maybe it's time to look at the world again, and see it for what it is now, what it has the potential to be. A new London, one that works for everyone. One I'd give my life to see. The one Malloryn sees when he looks around him, the one you see. You opened my eyes to a future I never dreamed of, made me realize they're worth saving. We're worth saving."
"What are you saying?"
"Maybe there's hope," he breathed, "if we just believe in it hard enough." A shudder ran through him. "You were right. I'm not afraid of needles. I'm not afraid of the vaccine. Something stopped me from taking that step. I'm not saying I... I would take the step you suggested. I'm not sure yet. But... I'm willing to consider it."
Anything would be worth a lifetime in her arms.
Her whole face lit up. "And us?"
"Where would I be without you?" He kissed her upturned nose. "You're my hope, kitten."
"And you're my strength. My belief in myself." Happiness made her glow with some inner beauty that almost struck him dumb. How had no man seen it before? "I love you."
He kissed her, past the point of words. And she slid into his lap, straddling his thighs, a new eagerness swimming through her as she ravished him with her mouth, her hands.
Bath oil gleamed on her bare breasts when they broke apart just enough to catch their breaths. He tongued her nipple, tasting the lemon and chemical of the oil. His stubble grazed her tender flesh, but she'd grown used to his advances by now, and merely moaned, arching her back and clutching his head.
Kincaid stroked between her thighs, feeling a shiver run through her. He drove a finger into her wet, silken sheath, working her, stretching her. Added another until she was rocking in his grasp, making desperate, pleading noises. Somehow it wasn't enough. He needed to be inside her. Now. To give himself to her, and seal their future in one blazing act.
"Bend over the bath," he breathed.
Ava gave him a shy glance, but there was also a hint of the devil in her gaze. And that look felt like a hand stroking his cock. Slowly, she rose up onto her knees, glancing back over her shoulder at him, her hair dripping. "Just what are you planning to do?"
"I plan to take you," he told her, putting a hand between her shoulder blades and pushing her forward, until she was bent over the rim of the bath. Water sloshed on the floor as he reached for the bath oil. "Just like this."
"I know this trick."
Oiling his fingers, he rose up onto his knees behind her. "I think there's still a few things I could teach you."
She glanced back over her shoulder with a shy smile, one that stole his breath. "Really?"
He smiled. "Oh, yes."
Tracing her bottom, he slid his hand between her thighs, fucking his fingers into her in a slow, insistent drive. Ava grasped the edge of the bath with a soft shudder. The oil made his passage easy, for the water had stolen her natural wetness. He needed to work her a little, to make her wet again.
Every thrust of his fingers made her shiver, her body clenching around him.
Taking his cock in his hand, he pumped it a few times, biting his lip against the urge to plunge within her. "Are you ready?"
"For you? Always."
Kincaid eased the broad head of his cock inside her, swiveling his hips, but not letting her take any more of him. Fuck, she felt good. He breached her a little further, and Ava wilted over the bath in silent entreaty. "Do it."
"What do you say?" he breathed, running his mech fingers up her spine.
"Please." She arched her back upwards. "Please."
"Please what?"
A shudder ran through her. "Please fuck me."
He drove himself inside her, earning a moan, as he slid his mech hand across her tits and drew her back against him so he could bite her earlobe. "I love hearing your sweet mouth say dirty things."
"I think you like... corrupting me."
He thrust again, the angle a little shallower thanks to the position. "Maybe I do?" And maybe you're the one corrupting me? "Look at you, my dirty little angel." He slid his oiled fingers up her throat and brushed them over her lips. "Lick them, sweetness. Taste yourself."