What Lies Beyond the Veil (Of Flesh & Bone, #1)(91)

The idea of somehow marking him as my territory became more and more appealing with every word he spoke. “Offers. As in plural. What are you doing with me, then? You could be having another threesome.”

Caelum chuckled. “I could be, and I would be if that was what I wanted, but I have no interest in anyone but you, my star. I don’t know how much more clear I can be about that. You are the only one for me. Women may make offers, but my answer will always be no. I expect the same in return.”

I swallowed as he rested a hand on my shoulders, inching his fingertips under the fabric there and sliding it down toward my arms. With the laces unknotted at the front, it would fall to my feet the moment the sleeves slipped down.

“Caelum,” I said, making him pause as I bit my lip. I had no doubt where this would go between us if my dress fell. He wouldn’t turn his back this time and wouldn't be distracted by the scars on my back.

“There will be no going back from this once you’ve taken me inside you, Little One. Take care to understand just how sincerely I mean that. Once we cross this line, you’re mine,” he murmured, toying with the fabric as he stared down at me. His focus didn’t move as he waited for my response, his features patient and relaxed despite the urgency in his gaze.

“I thought I already was,” I said stupidly, unable to think of what to say in the face of all his intensity. He leaned forward, touching his lips to mine as he brushed my sleeves off my shoulders.

The dress pooled at my feet, leaving me naked except for the socks and boots on my feet. Caelum kissed down my jaw, trailing his lips over the front of my throat as he lowered himself to his knees in front of me.

He was tall enough that his head was level with my breasts, his mouth caressing softly and drawing goosebumps to my skin. His fingers worked at the laces of my boot as he pressed a kiss to the peak of my nipple, opening his mouth and wrapping the wet heat of it around me.

I gasped as he finished untying my boot, and wrapped one hand around the sensitive skin on the back of my knee, lifting so he could pull the boot and sock free while his tongue slowly flicked my pebbled nipple.

He kissed his way over the valley between my breasts as he switched to the other boot, drawing my other nipple into his mouth with more urgency. He sucked hard enough that my back bowed as he finally stripped off the other boot, rising to his feet in front of me and pressing his bare torso against me.

He kissed me, his tongue tangling with mine and threatening to consume me. I knew in that moment I would do anything to keep him.

His nostrils flared as he pulled back, reaching down to grab my ass in both his hands and squeeze. “Get in the water, my star,” he said, his voice dropping low with the command as he took a step away and dropped his hands to the laces on his trousers.

I moved to do just that, escaping the cool air in favor of the comfort of the hot spring. I lowered myself into the pool slowly, letting the warm water envelop me. I dropped my head below the surface, floating there for a moment before I resurfaced.

Caelum lowered himself into the water, dunking his head under until his blond hair turned darker from the soaking. He grabbed the soap off the edge of the pool, stalking toward me slowly and lathering it in his hands.

“The Resistance doesn’t appear to have products for hair specifically,” he grumbled, touching his soapy hands to the top of my head and working them through my hair methodically.

“I’m used to that,” I said with a little chuckle. Soap was universal when you were poor. Only the richest among us could afford anything else.

“You deserve the best of the best. Specific formulas to wash your hair, oils to keep it soft,” he murmured as he worked the lather through my hair. His fingers massaged my scalp, and I flushed as I thought of what a mess I must look like compared to what he was used to.

If the women he’d been with before usually had those kinds of products at their disposal, I was nothing compared to that.

He tipped me back, helping me rinse the soap from my hair carefully before he ran the bar across my neck and shoulders. His touch was slow and lazy as he explored every line marked into my skin. Washing the dirt and sweat from my body, his attention fixated only on where the soap and his hand touched me.

Watching the grime wash away to reveal my skin beneath it, the girl I’d once been was revealed just a bit more with every pass of the soap. By the time he finished with my arms and made his way down to my breasts, I thought I might combust.

He cleaned them thoroughly, running the soap over my stomach and eventually touching it to the apex of my thighs.

“I can do it,” I said, flushing as I thought of him cleaning the most intimate part of me.

“I had my fingers inside you only yesterday, my star. Do you think I would hesitate to wash your cunt before I bury my tongue inside it?” he asked, rubbing soap-lathered fingers over me. He forced my legs wider, spreading me as he ran his hand over me and cleaned me.

I whimpered, the heat within me building as he stroked between my legs. He moved on to my legs as soon as he was satisfied, lifting them one at a time and washing them methodically. I was a mess of need by the time he turned me around and began to wash my back, his fingers hesitating on each and every scar.

He leaned down and pressed his lips to the worst one, kissing the sensitive skin that seemed to tingle any time someone touched it. The kiss felt like a promise of retribution, a reiteration of the vow he’d made to see the man who’d harmed me dead.