Page 139 of Maksym

“These,” I said, brushing my thumbs over her nipples until they peaked harder, “are perfect.”

“That’s generous.”

“No.” I lowered my head and kissed the top of one breast. “That is accurate.”

I drew one nipple into my mouth.

Grace inhaled sharply. Her back arched off the mattress.

“Still,” I murmured against her skin. “Let me.”

She forced herself down again, fingers gripping the sheet. I sucked gently at first, then harder when her body told me she wanted it. My tongue circled the tight peak. I tugged with my lips until her breath broke. Her nipple reached for my tongue each time I drew back, and the sight of it, wet and tight and wanting, made my cock throb hard against the silk.

I gave the other breast the same attention. Not because symmetry mattered. Because she did.

My hand explored while my mouth worked: the curve of her ribs, the softness beneath her breast, the warm rise of her stomach. I kissed down the center of her body, pausing at every place where breath changed. Under her breast. Over her ribs. The round fullness of her belly.

“Beautiful,” I said. “Every inch.”

She swallowed. “Maksym.”

“I know.”

I lifted my head. “We use colors tonight. Green means continue. Yellow means slow or change something. Red means everything stops at once. I do not plan to hurt you. But discomfort is enough. Uncertainty is enough. A memory is enough. Do you understand?”

She nodded again, then caught herself.

“Yes.”

“Your color now?”

Her eyes held mine. “Green.”

The word entered me like a vow.

I kissed lower.

Her thighs tensed when I reached the bare skin between them. I paused immediately, one hand resting on the outside of her hip.

She exhaled a nervous laugh. “Years before captivity, I had it lasered. I don’t know why I feel like I need to explain that.”

“You do not need to explain anything.” I kissed the inside of one thigh. “You are gorgeous any way you come to me.”

Her hand covered her face.

“Do not hide.”

She dragged her hand down, embarrassed and aroused and brave enough to show me both.

I settled between her legs.

The scent of her there nearly undid me.

Warm. Slick. Alive. Arousal rich enough that my mouth watered. I ran two fingers gently through her folds, and she jerked beneath the touch. She was drenched. Open for me already, though uncertainty still fluttered at the edges of the bond.

I lifted my wet fingers and showed her.

“Do you see how much your body wants this?”