Page 127 of Revenant

I finish the last strawberry on my plate, and before I’ve even swallowed, Pryce lifts the tray off my lap and sets it on the far end of the vanity.

“Lean forward,” he demands, attempting to leave no room for argument.

I give him one anyway.

“Why?”

He sighs, but it holds amusement. “Just listen. For once.”

“Yes, sir.” I smirk and do as he asks—he’s cute when he’s ordering me around. I don’t get this version of him often.

He pulls the golden handheld showerhead from its mount and turns the water back on, testing the temperature on his wrist before working it slowly though my hair until it’s soaked through to the roots.

After easing the water off, his fingers part the strands, the pads carefully pulling at my scalp as he massages in his shampoo. Goosebumps race down the back of my neck, causing my eyes to close instinctively, and I let my spine relax against the curve of the tub.

“Tesoro, you’re nearly purring.”

“I am not—”

“Mmhmm.” He tips my head back for the rinse, and as water slides down my throat and over my collarbone, his thumb follows the line of it before he seems to remember what he’s supposed to be doing.

The second wash takes longer than the first as he massages slow, deliberate circles into my temples. The bathroom is silent except for the slight drip of the faucet and the absolute traitor of a heartbeat hammering in my chest, which I’m pretty sure would be audible from space.

Pryce’s lips find the edge of my jaw, and the careful, patient man who just washed my hair is gone. He kisses down my throat, his palms sliding over my wet skin and pulling me into him. His breathing stutters against my pulse, like that part of him he’s been fighting to contain has finally slipped free. When his tongue drags up to my ear, I’m already arching closer, water still beading on my shoulders, my whole body tightening with anticipation.

“Now that you’re clean and fed,” he says against my skin, “it’s my turn.”

I whimper and turn my head until my mouth is almost on his. “Yeah? Hungry?”

His hand fists in my hair and he pulls back just far enough to look at me. There’s a heat in his gaze that I’ve learned to recognize, a hunger that’s not just about my body. “Starving.”

Then his mouth is on mine, and I feel the scrape of his fangs against my bottom lip and moan into him. He doesn’t break the skin, but the threat of it sends a wave of heat straight to my core, and he feels it. He hums in approval against my mouth like he’s tasting the effect he has on me.

I’m lifted from the bathtub in an instant, water sloshing over the sides and slapping the floor as he sets me down on the counter, his mouth never leaving mine. The marble is cold against the backs of my thighs, and I gasp into the kiss.

He pushes between my knees, spreading me open, and one of his hands closes around my ankle and lifts—guiding my foot up until my heel finds the edge of the counter, my leg now bent upright. I can practically feel his gaze against my skin, sliding over the parts of me already throbbing with need.

“Look at you, tesoro,” he breathes against my mouth. His hand slides up the inside of my thigh, achingly slow, and I’m shaking before he’s even fully touched me. “I can smell you. Do you understand what that does to me—”

Every nerve has narrowed to the path of his palm, then his fingers find my entrance, and he pushes two inside in one slow stroke. My head drops back into the mirror as he works them deeper. The sound I make doesn’t even sound human. His thumb circles once, and my hips jerk against his hand of their own accord.

“Solo un assaggio,” he rasps, and then all at once, he pulls his fingers free.

“Tell me.” I moan. “Tell me what it does to you.”

The loss is so sudden my hips chase after nothing, and I’m left gripping the edge of the counter so hard my knuckles might crack from the pressure. A frustrated groan tears out of me, and when I drag my eyes back to him, he’s watching me, his fingers lifted between us—slick and streaked crimson. His eyes drop to them and something in his face goes feral as he smiles without mercy.

“Pryce—”

He slowly puts them in his mouth. Eyes falling shut as he sucks them clean, a low broken sound rumbling out of his chest that I feel everywhere, and when he opens his eyes, they’re nearly black to the edges, fangs fully formed, and the sight of him undone by the taste of me sets my body on fire.

“You,” he rasps, “are going to ruin me. I have wanted you since the moment I picked up your suitcase in the rain. I have stood by your door at four in the morning more nights than you know. And every one of those nights, every single one, I made myself walk away because I told myself you deserved a man who could be patient.”

Pryce trails kisses from my knee down the inside of my raised thigh, taking his time, his mouth hot against skin that’s still damp from the water. He stills then sinks to his knees until I can feel his hot breath over my pussy. “And then you bled on my sheets, and the entire structure of my self control has obliterated.” I’m throbbing, every painful second of waiting winding me tighter, and when he finally tastes me, my mouth falls open from the pleasure.

“Oh, fuck,” I moan.

He chuckles against me, the vibration intensifying my arousal. “Hai il sapore del paradiso.”