“It’s you.” Winter winked at him. “It’s what I’m doing to you.”
“B–but you haven’t done anything yet.” Not really.
“Your heart is pounding like a rabbit trying to outrace a hunting dog,” Winter said as he pressed his palm over Dasani’s heart. “Your pupils are dilated, and you’re shaking as though you’re still standing out in the cold. Methinks you’re nervous.”
Words failed Dasani. Winter was right.
“Maybe if we were both naked, you would be more at ease.”
Dasani highly doubted that. If anything, he just might pass out. Other than himself, he’d never seen another man naked. And from the telephone pole poking at his gut, he knew he was in trouble.
“Uh…m–maybe.” Dasani kept his eyes locked with Winter’s, refusing to look down at what Winter was doing at that very moment. “I mean…I wouldn’t mind seeing…you know…that is to say—” Dasani felt as though he had a rock in his mouth. He couldn’t get the words out correctly.
Winter’s eyes seemed to glow with laughter. “And would you mind me being inside this pert ass?” The man squeezed Dasani’s butt cheek.
Dasani’s eyes rolled as he rocked backward. “L–language.”
The reminder only made Winter chuckle. “Ass is not a curse word. It’s a body part.” His mate kissed Dasani’s throat. “A body part I plan to thoroughly enjoy.”
Dasani’s cock jerked at Winter’s statement, but his chest felt tight and his body wouldn’t stop shaking. He wished it would. Dasani hated showing his inexperience to someone as dominant and skilled as Winter. His limbs vibrated with tension, and Winter appeared so at ease.
“I’m not sure if we should—” Dasani glanced away.
Winter curled his finger under Dasani’s chin and turned his head until he was staring up at his mate. “Desire shouldn’t be so scary, little bluebird. I would never hurt you. No matter how much I want you. It is a weak man who would harm another to gain his own pleasure. We’ll take this slow.”
Dasani’s head bobbed up and down as he worried his lower lip. He tried to exhale his shaky breath, but that didn’t seem enough to calm him. How could he be so frightened when Winter’s gaze was so tender?
Winter took a step back and shoved his pants down his legs before stepping out of them. Dasani kept his eyes glued to the man’s chest, refusing to look any lower. Next Winter removed his shirt, and Dasani remembered feeling safe as he lay against the swell of muscles. Winter had been so warm, so careful with him.
“Look at me, bluebird,” Winter coaxed.
Dasani forced his gaze lower and wished he hadn’t. The guy was packing a cannon while Dasani owned a peashooter.
“Scared?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t be.” Winter held out his hand, and Dasani went to his mate. The touch of warm skin against his own had Dasani trembling harder.
He clenched his hands and braced himself. Dasani didn’t want to be a scared little bird. He wanted to be bold with Winter. He wanted to tell his mate exactly what he wanted him to do to him. “T–tell me what you would enjoy about my…” Dasani swallowed roughly. “My backside.”
Winter’s smile eased some of Dasani’s fears.
“How about I show you?”
Chapter Five
“Tell me of a happy memory.” Winter lifted Dasani from his feet and took his mate to his bed and crawled in, cradling the elf next to him. He knew Dasani was nervous, and Winter wanted to relax his mate. It wasn’t as though he were a pillar of stone. Rock solid. That was far from the truth. Winter was about to claim his mate, a man he would spend the rest of his life with. This was an important moment, and although he hid it well, his hands were shaking.
“Now?” Dasani asked. His black brows furrowed.
“Yes, now.” Winter kept his arm under his mate’s neck but used the other to smooth down the man’s thin chest. He rubbed up and down, his fingertips mapping every inch of the man.
“I have a sister named Sheba,” Dasani said, and Winter could hear the pride in his mate’s voice. “I’m not sure if you know of the marshlands we live in, but they’re beautiful. There are plenty of woods to shelter our village. Growing up, Sheba and I used to explore those woods, pretending we were on distant planets, hunting down strange life forms.”
“Sounds fun,” Winter said. He had no siblings to share such adventures with. There was Ryker, but Ryker’s mother hadn’t wanted the two to hang out. She looked at Winter’s family as if they were diseased. Winter hadn’t had much growing up, but he had great parents who treated him with nothing but love. His Aunt Beatrice was a prude and snotty. He still couldn’t understand how his mother and his aunt were sisters. They’d been nothing alike.