“Will you join me in my chambers, then?”
My heart immediately sped up at what awaited in the next several minutes.Somethingdid. I knew this because it felt as if something shifted between us. That there had been a change. There had to be because I didn’t argue with him or myself. I rose and went into the bathing chamber to take care of my personal needs and brush my teeth. I was inexplicably nervous as I walked out and saw him waiting by the adjoining door, the bottle of wine from supper in his hand.
My heart started tripping all over the place for some silly reason as he closed the door behind me and followed me into his chamber. It was only then that I remembered I wore nothing but the tiny piece of undergarment under the robe.
Oh, dear.
Nyktos offered me the bottle of wine as he eased past. I shook my head, deciding that I’d had more than enough. I sat on the edge of the bed, fingers fiddling with the tiny buttons on the robe as he excused himself and disappeared into the bathing chamber. All I managed to do while he was gone was scoot back a foot or so and tuck my legs under the hem of the robe. Then Nyktos returned.
Shirtless. The buttons of his leathers undone.
Neither of those two things helped with the nervousness Ifelt as I watched him walk toward me, the hair against his cheek and the bronze flesh of his neck and upper chest damp.
He sat before me. “May I?”
Stomach joining the flipping and flopping of my heart, I nodded.
Like the night before, he tucked the braid between his thumb and pointer finger and slowly, almost methodically, ran his fingers down it. I bit the inside of my lip as the back of his hand grazed the swell of my breast. I could barely feel his touch through the thicker robe, but a shiver still skated through me.
Nyktos unwound the hair band, slipping it onto his wrist. Then he set about undoing the braid and didn’t speak until he’d finished. “I’ve been thinking,” he said, thick lashes lowering as he drew the length of my hair over my shoulder. “About the demands you made.”
“I wouldn’t say they were demands.” I watched him draw his fingers through my hair.
“What would you call them?”
“Gentle requests.”
Nyktos laughed roughly. “Which part was gentle, Sera? The kicking me, or the holding your dagger to my throat?”
“The part where I didn’t hurt you.”
One side of his lips curved up. “There was one demand you didn’t make.”
“Which one was that?”
He spun one of my curls around his finger. “The offer you made in my office.”
My heart immediately began its rapid beating.
“That wasn’t part of your demands.”
“But it was.” I took a breath.
“Really?” He unwound the curl, letting it lay against my chest. “I’m positive I wouldn’t have forgotten you bringing that up.”
I dragged my teeth over my lower lip as he picked up another piece of hair. “The offer was a part of my request to be of help.”
Lashes lifted, and quicksilver eyes locked onto mine.
“In whatever way I’mneeded,” I reminded him, my blood warming.
His lips parted, revealing a hint of his fangs. “That’s goodto know.” His voice was rougher, harder. “So, that offer you made? Pleasure for the sake of pleasure? It still stands?”
A mix of emotions swirled through me as my hands fell to the bed. Sweet anticipation and blade-sharp desire crashed into a wild sort of anticipation that carried just the faintest twinge of something I couldn’t name or place, but I said, “Yes.”
Wisps of eather bled out from behind his pupils, lashing his irises. “Are you sure?”
“I am.” And I was.