Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 145341 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 727(@200wpm)___ 581(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145341 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 727(@200wpm)___ 581(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
Afanasiv’s blue-green eyes met hers, and he tossed the towel to Dimitri before holding out his hand to his woman. The other Carpathians instantly threw up an illusion of the couple walking away to get into a vehicle. They took to the sky together, two night birds winging their way back to the palace.
We’re going to have to live around your brothers. He made it a statement.
I suppose I will have to make it worth your while. Vasilisa felt daring teasing him. She poured a sultry note into his mind. She didn’t want to have any limits on their relationship. She knew she was more than ready for a complete commitment and wanted him to know she was.
He stroked a caress along the walls of her mind. He made her feel wanted and beautiful. He made her feel like a woman and warrior, giving her respect in both aspects of her life. The palace loomed in front of them, a large, sprawling work of art, sometimes hidden by the snow and foggy air until one was right up on it. The two owls perched on the outside balcony of her private apartment and then, once more taking their own forms, stepped off the wide railing to enter her sitting room.
She took his hand and led him down the hall to her private bath, with the large sunken tub she always enjoyed so much after battles. Aware of the time passing and Siv’s inability to stay up when the sun rose, she pulled all the privacy screens to black out any sun that might sneak past the snow that had begun to come down in earnest. They didn’t have a tremendous amount of time before they would go to ground together and sleep beneath her bedroom in the chamber she had there. Vasilisa meant to utilize every moment they had.
She waved her hand at the tub to fill it with hot, steamy water and turned to her lifemate. “Let me.” She opened his shirt, one old-fashioned square button at a time. With each button she slipped open, her heart accelerated just a little more. She felt his eyes on her face, but she didn’t look up at him. Not yet. She knew if she did, she’d want to go too fast. Every nerve ending already reacted to his body heat. To his nearness. She wanted to be the one in charge for just a little while, just enough to show him she was no longer afraid, and she wanted every experience he could give her. She wanted to bring him every pleasure.
It was difficult when she opened his shirt to look at the heavy muscles of his chest and the many raw lacerations, gouges and terrible wounds Afanasiv had. “Siv,” she whispered his name and leaned forward to use her tongue to help heal the wounds. As a Carpathian, he was always clean after a battle, making certain no vampire had injected parasites into his blood. He’d taken the time before he went into the borehole to seal the wounds. She kissed every laceration and tear in his chest, neck and throat, using the healing saliva in her tongue in an effort to speed up the recovery process.
Her hands dropped to the waistband of his trousers as she kissed her way down his chest to his abdomen. Opening the material, she pushed it off his hips, down his thighs, and then, with a wave of her hand, she rid him of his clothing and shoes. Her hands found his rock-hard cock and began to stroke and caress. Only then did she look up at him, her gaze meeting his.
Afanasiv looked back at her with stark, raw hunger. With such a mixture of love and lust, her entire body followed the meltdown of her heart. He framed her face with both hands, holding her head still as he bent his head toward hers. His long hair brushed over her skin, feeling like a silken caress. She hadn’t realized her clothing was gone. He had done that at some point when she was obsessed with healing his wounds.
Electricity crackled, seemed to sizzle and create little pinpoints of lightning arcing between them. His mouth took hers. So hot—his tongue like a flame, dueling with hers, stroking hunger and need into her. He held her gently, yet his mouth wasn’t gentle. His kisses were rough, almost savage, devouring hungrily, possessively.
She gave herself up to his kisses, the storm of need in her rising to a fever pitch. She was only half aware of him using one hand to stop the flow of water into the bathtub. His mouth welded to hers, he lifted her into his arms and carried her straight to the bedroom. She barely felt it when he laid her on the bed because she was kissing him hungrily. Her breasts ached, felt swollen and achy. Her sex wept with need of him, fire exploding in her belly. Hot blood pounded through her clit as his mouth left hers to travel over her chin to her throat.