“Are you beginning to think I’m trustworthy?”
He smiled at her and her heart seemed to melt while her stomach did that slow somersault that always made her go damp and needy. Her hand found his hair as he lay his cheek on her belly again. She liked the feel of the scratchy shadow on his jaw. It was sexy. Sensual. A burn that was real and had that same effect of setting off a reaction in her body. This time, she wanted to touch him. Explore his body. Only she couldn’t move. She was too exhausted. She liked just lying there feeling sated and happy.
“Amaryllis?” He turned his head to nip her firm skin.
She jumped and then laughed. She’d never had anyone to share an evening like this with. Both lay naked under the stars, the cool night breeze fanning their overheated bodies. Talking quietly together. Was that what couples did? Was it small things that wove those relationships tighter? Made them stronger? She didn’t know, but she loved being with Malichai just like this. Talking softly to him. Getting his reassurance. Giving him the same.
“I trusted you with my body, Malichai. And I’m letting you steal my heart, so I’d have to say you’re in there. I definitely have reached a point where I trust you.”
“Enough to go home with me?” he pressed.
“I said I would. As long as I’m not leaving Marie and Jacy in a bad way, I’ll go.”
“And you’ll marry me?”
She found herself laughing just for the sheer joy of being with him. “I said I would.”
“You didn’t sound like you meant it.”
“I meant it. You just want to hear me say it over and over.”
“That too.”
They both laughed. She liked the way they sounded together. Almost as if they were creating music together.
“And you really do want children, Amaryllis? I know we sort of talked about this, but it wasn’t like you knew I was asking because it mattered to me.”
She stilled. She loved Jacy, but she wasn’t Jacy’s mother. “You know I never had a mother, Malichai.”
“I didn’t either. Or at least mine didn’t count. But I want children. Maybe a dozen.”
She burst out laughing again. “You do not.”
“Okay, I led with that so you wouldn’t think three or four was a huge number.”
“Are you trying to make me throw you off the roof?”
“I’m trying to tell you I want a family with you. I want to be close to my brothers and their children so we’re the best aunt and uncle that ever lived. I want to raise the children strong, so my daughters are like you, always thinking, always using their brains, and when they have to use self-defense, hands, feet or weapons, they don’t hesitate. You didn’t hesitate. I loved that.”
Again, he turned his head, so she felt the brush of the bristly shadow on his jaw and then the sweep of his lips before his teeth teased at the skin of her belly. “My little warrior woman. You really can do it all. Cook. Give me children. And fight. You’re damned amazing.”
She laughed, trying not to move her legs restlessly. That burning had gone through her skin to burrow deep. The smoldering fire seemed to be building into something much stronger. “Roll over, Malichai.” Desperation was beginning to set in.
He did so immediately. “Sorry, baby. Was I too heavy?”
Malichai lay on his back. He turned his head toward Amaryllis, drinking in the sight of her. She didn’t answer him but instead scooted down until she lay in the position he’d been in—her head on his belly, her arm across his thighs, one hand on his hips, in close to his groin. He tried not to feel her fingers as she began to idly trace along his hip bone and then the muscles of his abdomen. Every time she traced around one, the muscles rippled, as if they found her fingers as sensual as he did.
“You don’t mind that I can fight?”
Her breath was warm on his skin. Every word sent an intriguing puff of air along his abdomen, so close to his groin. His cock stirred. There was no stopping it. He felt the broad head nudge along her throat as if asking for entrance. Her breasts pushed tight against his thigh, her nipples two hard peaks.
“Why would I mind? You’ll need to be able to fight. Sooner or later, enemies will come. I like knowing I can have confidence in my partner, that she’ll be right there with me when we defend our home, our children and our extended family.”
It was a little difficult to talk when she turned her face into his belly, nuzzling him, her tongue tracing his muscles the way a paintbrush might. He stayed very still, but his cock didn’t. It just kept growing. Getting longer. Thicker. Harder. His heavy sac tightened. He hadn’t thought it possible so soon, but he was already feeling heat spreading through him. That relentless ache building. His cock pushed against the underside of her chin.
Amaryllis tilted her head just a scant inch or two and her warm breath seemed to engulf him. Malichai closed his eyes. He enjoyed every second, yet at the same time, he wanted to take control, catch her hair in his hand and push his cock deep into her mouth. He forced himself to be patient.
Her fingers moved from his belly to his balls, sliding over them, shaping them, stroking, a whisper of touch that left behind flickering points of flames dancing over his sac, feeding the heat inside. Then she was cupping his balls, rolling with equal gentleness. Her body shifted and his breath left his lungs in a rush he couldn’t control. Her tongue licked up and over each of the balls, and then her lips sipped delicately. Tasting him.
She lifted her head. “You’re like velvet, did you know that?”
He didn’t. “No, baby.” He dropped his hand to her head because he couldn’t help himself. He needed more. Much more, but he wanted her to have her exploration, if that was what she was doing. It had to come from her. He wasn’t going to take anything she didn’t offer him. No matter how much he wanted or needed her mouth, he refused to give in to the urgent demands of his body. Or push her head down over him where he needed her mouth to the point he might not survive if she didn’t give him that immediately. “I didn’t know.”
“Well, that’s how you feel. Just like velvet. And your skin tastes good. Sort of wild and masculine, like a rare, exotic flavor that was created just for me.”
Before he could reply, she turned her head and licked along the base of his shaft. Her tongue felt just like the velvet she claimed his balls were. She curled it and teased around the very base, over and over, lapping, stroking, even flicking. The sensations were amazing. All the while, her fingers were sliding over his balls, stroking those long caresses that threatened to drive him insane.
“You really do taste good, Malichai.”
“I’m glad you think so, Amaryllis, because what you’re doing is hot as hell.”
She licked up his shaft as if it were ice cream. “I can see you feel that way. I love how responsive you are to me. I don’t have to ask if you like something.”
He found himself smiling. “Yeah, my cock is letting you know, baby. Keep it up.”
She already was, the tip of her tongue sliding under the crown, finding that little vee that had his cock pulsing, jerking hotly, his heart beating furiously along the heavy vein. She licked over the broad head, finding the little drops leaking, telling her she was doing everything he loved. She spent time, lapping them up and then, without warning, her mouth engulfed the entire crown.