It beat now. Fast. Was he nervous? His face didn’t show it. She traced her thumb down the center of his chest, and the depression underneath. His skin was smooth and warm.
“Take everything off,” she told him.
He waited a moment, seeming to contemplate her authority, but then complied. She watched him with an unashamed curiosity—a curiosity he seemed to enjoy. His nakedness captivated her. She drew her hand over his shoulder as she stepped around behind him.
“Why do you mark your skin?” she asked, tracing the inked patterns that ran from his chest, over his upper arms, and to his back.
“It’s my story,” he said.
Behind him, she moved her hand down, her thumb along the trench of his spine. Slowly, softly, she trailed the round of his buttocks. Moving higher now, she lingered briefly at the muscled arc at his side and then drew her hand up around his other shoulder. She followed her touch, stepping back around in front of him, and ran her fingers over his body once more—feeling, testing, exploring. He stood silently for her, letting her discover him.
She let her eyes drop to his lower body, and a wave rolled in her stomach. She wanted to touch him, but a sudden shyness overcame her.
A wry smile stretched across his lips. “Am I to your satisfaction?” he asked with a slight hint of impatience.
Norah looked back down. Feeling bolder, she reached below his waist and wrapped her hand around him. A rumble escaped him, and he moved forward. She put her other hand on his chest, quietly bringing him to a stop. A vibration rumbled through him, but he stayed. Turning her attention back to his flesh, she was surprised how he could be so hard and yet so soft, and her pulse quickened at the thought of him inside her. She let her fingertips explore his anatomy underneath, and he shifted. The fire in his eyes could burn her.
His hunger sent a flash of heat across her skin, and she suddenly wanted out of her gown. She turned her back to him, pulling her hair to the side and looking over her shoulder at him.
Not needing further prompting, he reached out and pulled at the lacing on her dress.
“Gently,” she insisted.
A complaining rumble came from his chest, but he slowed. Her dress fell open, revealing her corset, and he pulled loose the lacing on it too. She turned to face him and let the gown and corset drop to the floor. She stood in her chemise but then pulled it from her shoulders, letting it fall. Prickles rippled across her skin as she stood in her underwear. Summoning her courage, she hooked her thumbs in the sides and slid them to the floor before stepping out of them.
His breath quickened at the sight of her, and she flushed to see him grow even larger in his arousal. Norah stepped forward, slowly, and took his hand. She spread her fingers and measured her palm against his. His hand dwarfed her own.
Mikael moved forward, using his body to walk her backward toward the bed. She kept a firm hand on his chest to control his pace. When the backs of her thighs brushed against the edge, she paused. And so did he. Then she crept back into the sea of black.
He followed with a hunting prowl, moving between her legs and covering her body with his own. His mouth found hers, and it was hard and wanting. She clasped the base of his jaw, pushing him back to slow his storm. But she wasn’t sure she still had control.
She trembled underneath him.
He pulled back. His eyes moved back and forth between hers, dark and questioning. “Are you afraid?” he whispered.
Her voice came in barely a breath. “A little.”
Mikael’s face softened. “You don’t ever need to be afraid of me.”
She believed him.
Slowly, he brought his mouth back to hers—probing, asking. He pulled back to look at her, seeking her approval before he bent to kiss her again. The kiss was soft, cautious. Something changed in him, an added tenderness, and she kissed him back. A warmth pooled inside her. Her kiss grew hungry, and he answered with a leashed hunger of his own.
Mikael drew his fingers across her shoulder and down. She trembled again, but not from fear. He swirled his touch around each breast, and she writhed, wanting more. Everything fell away—the circumstance, her worry, her mind. All that mattered was the touch of his skin against hers.
He trailed his hand lower, over her stomach and down between her thighs. She gasped, and his eyes burned darker. He slipped a finger between the lips of her sex, and she writhed against him. As he found the center of her heat, she clutched him tighter.
He made her body answer to his call. Tension built in her stomach, pulsing into her thighs and tightening every fiber in her body. Her hips rocked to her need as her breaths came faster. He took his time, watching her, waiting.
Then she shattered. Release quaked through her, making her cry out. She arched against him, but he held her tight, not letting her escape his touch.
As her body came back to her, she stilled, panting. He covered her mouth in his and captured the last of the fading release on her lips. When he pulled back, she looked up at him, and her face grew hotter. She hadn’t imagined he’d be able to make her feel this way, to pull the desire from her, expose her, make her bare herself.
He moved between her thighs again, and her breath shook as he positioned himself. Their eyes met as he rolled his hips forward to meet her. He paused, waiting. She shifted slightly and opened her thighs wider for him.
“Forgive me,” he whispered.
He let out a growl and pushed into her. The pain was sharp, and she sucked in a breath, balling the sheets in her fists. The second thrust put him deep within her and she couldn’t help the cry that escaped. He trembled under the effort of control.
“Wait,” she begged.
He buried his head into her neck, and they lay in the dark quiet of their union.
“Just wait,” she whispered.
He did.
Norah brought her hand to the nape of his neck and then threaded her fingers into his hair.
Mikael drew back, pulling her eyes to him. “Are you all right?”
He made it all right, and she nodded.
Her body relaxed, and slowly, he began to move inside her. It wasn’t long before the burn subsided to an ache, and the want returned. Feeling him inside her, filling her, brought a new wave of sensations. She rocked her hips, and he moved faster. His breaths quickened, and she watched him. Her fingers moved along the lines of his body—feeling him, learning him.
Intimacy with Mikael was not as she’d imagined; he was not as she’d imagined. She tightened her thighs to slow him and moved her hips to push him faster. Where she led him, he followed. She needed control, and he gave it to her. He gave her power. And she gave herself back to him, because what she wanted in that moment was him.
The muscle under his skin hardened as he reached his own release, and he buried himself deep within her. She took him; she wanted him, all of him—his body, his being. Everything else fell away.
They lay unmoving as the air quieted around them. Norah closed her eyes and waited for her body to come back. His frame engulfed her, holding her, keeping her safe, and then, ever so gently, he pulled himself from her.
She winced, and he nuzzled the side of her cheek, his breath warm against her ear. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “Are you all right?”
She couldn’t answer. Was it all right that she didn’t want this time with him to be over? That he’d made her forget everything else, and she didn’t want to leave him? That she wanted to kiss him again? A longing stirred deep within her. Was it all right she wanted more than an alliance between them?