“I could tease you all night,” she said against the hollow behind his ear. She licked there, then applied a test of teeth to his lobe. His reply was a thrust and a squeeze. She loved that call-and-response.

“No teasing.” His voice was suddenly brittle. She heard bitterness and emotional pain. “Kavya . . .”

“You’re right. No teasing. That’s not what I want. I’ve been curious since those first moments in your tent. I’ve been hungry since you stripped for me. I’ve been half-mad since you tasted me in the sunlight. It’s been long enough. More than that, it’s been more than enough since meeting you.”

With a shift of her pelvis, she angled so that the head of his cock nudged between her slick lips. She took a breath. Looked him in the eyes. Smiled.

She kissed him when he slid home.

Pain bolted through what had been perfect pleasure, leaving aftershocks of surprise and a gasp that he swallowed with a deeper kiss.

“So full,” she gasped again, barely able to connect words. “So . . . Tallis, oh, Dragon damn.”

“Big.” He thrust up, deep. She’d thought once was spectacular enough. “Right now you can’t believe it’s possible. How I’m filling you.” Dipping his head, he licked the tops of her breasts. “You’re greedy to learn how much more you can take.”

With her temple pressed down against his, she laughed. “Now you can talk.”

“Only one of us at a time.” He caught her gaze. The animal—his great gift—was staring out from Tallis’s deep blue eyes. “But we’ve started now, Kavya.”

“Yes. I don’t know what I need. You do. Please.”

A feral smile replaced his crooked tease. “Hold tight around my neck. I won’t let you fall.”

He started by drawing back from her, until his ass must’ve touched the wall. The entire time, he held her hips with his big, widespread hands. His surging return shook her thoughts into scattered puzzle pieces. Kavya threw her chin toward the ceiling and shuddered. He withdrew and returned. Withdrew . . . and slammed back. Each time, the feeling came as a surprise—being stretched and filled, as if she’d always been missing this questing pulse.

She tightened the insides of her knees against his arms and began to work her hips in a matching rhythm. They parted. Their eyes caught. They joined. The intimacy was breathtaking. This was feeling. Feeling. She’d never been closer to another living soul, in ways that had nothing to do with thought and little to do with the flesh. The flesh was the inspiration for something far deeper.

Her heart fluttered in her chest, out of time with the rest of her body. She shoved aside confusing emotional reactions in favor of ones that made sense. Tallis had bared his teeth. Each thrust freed another glimpse of the raging violence he kept leashed for her. A growl followed. His eyes were hazy and intense and burning and lost.

Kavya used his body. She hadn’t known that was possible either, but it was so simple. She trusted his strength and his solid hold. When the pressure of pleasure began to build—almost baffling, in that it could be so much more intense—she pinched the caps of his shoulders. He took her aggression and fed it back. He drove into her with such speed and force. Sweat shimmered over his gold-flushed flesh and dampened his chest hair. She bowed her head and licked. Tallis lifted his hand, holding her mouth against his skin. He bucked up, up, up as she dropped her hips to meet him.

With her face held firmly against his chest, and her legs spread, and the whole of her stability—her satisfaction—dependent on Tallis, she finally gave up on thought. She was being penetrated and consumed. There was nothing of hers that he didn’t master. Taking. Giving, until Kavya held nothing back. The beautiful pleasure became the pounding of drums. Bright. Sharp. Loud. She cried out against his chest, then bit into firm muscle.

And burst apart.

She shook and gasped as distilled pleasure bathed her nerve endings. Sugar and wine and rain. Behind her lids was only white upon white.

Tallis grounded her.

Until it was his turn.

He slapped both hands back on her ass and immobilized her pelvis. She hadn’t realized how much freedom he’d given her to move. This was for him. He took. Head lifted, Kavya watched him hurtle toward release. She could sympathize now, envy now, appreciate now—how the tendons on his neck were tight cables and how his bared teeth gave him the appearance of a man in pain rather than on the cusp of pleasure.

“Kavya,” he breathed—a whispered growl. “You’re real.”

She crossed her arms behind his neck and pulled their upper bodies close. She was coming again, slower this time, but with a stronger power, diffuse, slamming her from all sides. Finding one of those tight tendons, she bit his neck as the shocks and aftershocks, ripples and undertow sucked her down again. In a beautiful fog, she realized what he needed.

“I’m real, Tallis. I’m Kavya of Indranan. You’ve just made your goddess into a woman.”

He growled, tensed, drove deep one last time, until his breath became her name in a shuddering chant.

—

Tallis slowly eased free and lowered Kavya to the ground. Her knees buckled as she took her own weight. He was exhausted, his mind blown, his body sated, but he pulled her to his chest in a protective, solid hold. The wall at his back was steady, just as he was steady for her. They stood that way, naked and vulnerable. He traced the length of her drying hair. She made a contented sound and nuzzled deeper. Her cheek pressed into the hollow between his pectorals. She’d be able to hear his heart, which was only beginning to return to a normal pace.

She shivered.

The room was cold, but only with that delicate shake of her shoulders did Tallis realize it. He stooped to grab one of the towels and threaded it around her back. She hugged into it, then returned to his embrace.

“Thank you,” she whispered against his skin.

He was humbled. He was definitely speechless. Few events in his life had affected him with such power. To have pleased her while being given the gift of her trust was miraculous. This wasn’t something he could smile about while walking away.

Especially when she shifted her weight and winced.

He glanced down. “Oh, fuck. Your feet.”

Blood smeared the concrete where she’d rested the weight of one foot.

“It’s not as bad as it looks. You know it’ll be healed by morning.”

Tallis was unmoved by protest. “Come here.”

“Another go? So soon? I guess I never thought to wonder if Dragon King men possessed yet another gift—one human men would envy.”

Returning her arch smile, Tallis scooped her into his arms. “And here I’d thought I was just a special case.”

“You are a special case,” she said, swirling her fingertips through his chest hair.

“Now you’re just being a flirt.” But her words were enough to still his heart—before sending it speeding to double time. “Sit here. I’ve got your back.”

“That’s the sexiest thing a man can say to me.”

He nuzzled the hollow beneath her jaw. “I’ve got better. You just caught me out in a laundry room.”

“Took you by surprise, did I?”

“Very much so.”

“Good. I wanted to.”

Tallis turned on the warm water, still supporting her so that she perched on the edge of the deep utility sink with her feet dangling inside. “Why was that important?”

“I was at a disadvantage. You’d given me a preview, but I didn’t know what to expect. I’m not used to going into a situation where I can’t get a read on it. I liked that you didn’t know what was going to happen either.”

“With you, Kavya, I never know what’s going to happen.”

She turned to kiss his shoulder. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Because he was again at a loss for words, Tallis set about tending her injured soles. “Lean forward and grip the faucet. Hold your balance while I grab more towels.”