‘I know you’ve led a sheltered life,’ Tyr murmured as he toyed with a lock of her hair.
‘What are you saying?’
‘Why don’t we find out?’
The look in Tyr’s eyes was everything she’d hoped for. And they were husband and wife, Jazz reminded herself, so nothing was forbidden. It wasn’t so bad feeling small and vulnerable when you felt so safe. Safe and with every nerve ending on super-high alert. Her thigh only had to touch Tyr’s to start trembling, while her shoulder quivered when it brushed his arm.
Where to look?
If she looked straight at Tyr, that was like an invitation, while staring straight ahead seemed absurdly prim. So she looked down as she made a big performance of arranging the covers over her.
‘You won’t need those,’ Tyr assured her, pushing them back.
‘But you said—’
‘I know what I said. I just don’t want you getting overheated.’
Her eyes widened as Tyr released her hands from their death grip on the fabric. ‘You’re in my bed so I can keep you warm. Remember telling me that?’
Was that really her suggestion? ‘I’m not very good at this, Tyr. I mean...’
‘I know what you mean, Jazz,’ Tyr assured her softly. ‘You’ve already told me you’re a virgin.’
‘Well, I can hardly pretend to have run rampage through all the eligible youths in Kareshi.’
Tyr’s hard mouth curved in a smile as he stared down at her. ‘There isn’t much I don’t know about you, Jazz Kareshi, or that I can’t read in your eyes, and I don’t want you to be frightened of me, ever.’
‘I’m not frightened of you.’ She gasped as Tyr’s hands encircled her waist as he drew her down beside him.
‘Really?’ Tyr’s mouth tugged up in a wicked smile as he soothed her with an embrace that was both light and warm. His touch was so light, she could have broken away at any time, but did she want to?
‘Calm down,’ he whispered when her breathing quickened. ‘I don’t bite.’ That wicked smile again. ‘At least, not yet.’
She laughed. Tyr made everything so easy for her. Smiling against his lips, she closed her eyes. Breathing the same air, she kissed him. Every part of her was firing at once, while Tyr’s kisses were gentle and teasing as he held her back. She was still basking in delicious sensation when he drew her nightgown over her head.
‘What—?’
‘You’re overdressed,’ he reprimanded her.
Drawing the coverlet up to her chin, she lay trembling and acutely sensitive. How could she become so responsive suddenly? Just the lightest pass of Tyr’s fingers on her naked skin was enough to make her tremble with desire for him.
‘What are you staring at?’ she asked suspiciously when he pulled the covers back.
‘You. I’m staring at you, Jazz.’
As the familiar smile carved a crease in his cheek, she turned her face away from him and closed her eyes. No one had seen her naked since she was a child in the nursery. What did Tyr think of her? How would she compare to all the other women he must have known? She didn’t dare open her eyes to find out.
‘Look at me, Jazz. Open your eyes and look at me,’ Tyr commanded.
Cupping her face in his hands, he kissed her so gently, her heart welled with love for him.
‘That’s better,’ he said when she searched his eyes. ‘You can trust me, and you can make me stop any time you want to.’
She smiled nervously. Tyr was so much bigger than she was. How was she supposed to do that?
‘You ask me to stop whenever you want,’ he said, reading her mind with his usual ease. ‘Anything you don’t like, you tell me, and I’ll stop right away.’
Was it likely there would be anything she didn’t like?
No. But she had been ultra-protected all her life, and had set such strict rules for herself that she couldn’t help but be nervous. She’d heard people talking about things happening naturally, and had concluded that was their way of getting out of having to explain to a nervous virgin that there would be pain—or, at the very least, discomfort, together with huge embarrassment. But Tyr was distracting her with irresistible kisses, and each time he caressed her she wanted more. The fact that he was in no hurry reassured her, and when he caressed her back with long, leisurely strokes, she wanted the sensation to last for ever. Perhaps that would be enough for him.
She had to stop this and trust him. She had always trusted Tyr, and while he had her suspended in an erotic net like this, she was in no mood to distract him.