Within seconds Anna cries out and I tighten my grip on her hips. She overwhelms my senses. Anna is the scratching of nails in my hair. She’s the sound of high moans in my ears. The firm thighs against my unshaven cheeks. The sweet scent that surrounds us.

Her cries turn to tired breathing, and her grip on my hair relaxes. Only then do I relent and move up to place kisses on her flushed face and closed eyelids. I love knowing I’ve done this to her.

“You can nap, luv,” I whisper.

She sags further into the bed, murmuring. Then her eyes pop open. She pushes to her elbows and glares as if I’d said something offensive. I have to laugh. Her hair has gone a bit poofy in the back, and she’s a right gorgeous sight.

“It’s your turn,” she says.

Oh. I go still, wondering exactly what she has in mind. Inside, my body claps like a damn seal, but outside I’m suddenly too nervous to move. She leans forward and kisses under my ear. Ah, yes. That’s nice. She kisses my neck and I reach for her hip, pulling her closer.

“My sweet little vixen.”

She licks my earlobe, and a bolt of arousal forces me on top of her.

Anna is naked underneath me. All mine.

But she tsks and makes a little uh-uh-uuh sound, as if I’ve got it all wrong. She pushes me off her and continues pushing me until I’m on my back and she’s beside me on her knees, looking down at my body as I did to hers. She bites her lip. Her hands are shaking as her fingers trail over my chest and down my abs. I want to tell her she doesn’t have to do this, but she reaches for my belt, determined.

Oh, dear God. I could quite possibly make a terrible fool of myself right now. I grasp her hands and breathe out harshly. Her eyes fill with worry and I have to say something.

“Sorry . . . it’s just that . . . it’s been a while.”

“It’s okay,” she whispers. It’s as if she’s relieved that I’m showing weakness, though I am not at all happy about it.

Once I’ve taken several breaths, I release her hands and she continues to undress me. I lift my hips for her and kick off the shorts.

“Um, wow,” Anna murmurs. She stares so hard that I’m about to lose it. Damn it, Rowe, be cool, I chide myself as she takes her visual fill of me with an expression of awe and curiosity.

I close my eyes and swallow. I try to imagine non-sexy things, but it’s difficult when she’s hijacked all of my senses. I breathe, trying to regain control, but when Anna finally touches me, I have to wrap my hand over hers again.

“Just a sec,” I say. She bites her lip, and I hope like hell she’s not about to laugh at how my voice cracked.

“Kai . . .” Her voice beckons me to look at her. I lift my eyes. “It’s just me.”

This is Anna. This isn’t work. She wants something genuine from me, not an act. I release her hand, and allow myself to feel her touch. To watch her face as she discovers me for the first time.

“Like this?” she whispers, sultriness underlying her voice.

She goes slow, and it’s pure torture. Though I suppose it’s only fair play after what I put her through.

I shut my eyes and flex every muscle. “Yes, luv. Bloody hell. Just like that.”

Heaven.

I talk her into taking an outdoor shower, and I promise to keep an eye out for whisperers, but there are a few moments as we wash where hands wander and I get a bit distracted. It’d be safe to assume the wandering hands belong to yours truly, but I’m happy to announce Anna was the culprit. Can’t keep the girl’s hands off me.

Afterward I wrap her in an oversized towel and take her inside to feed her berries and cheese and crackers.

She falls over with laughter when I turn on Marna’s music and belt out the chorus of “You Don’t Know You’re Beautiful.”

“Oh my gosh!” she says through her laughter. “You sound just like them, and you know every single freaking word!”

“Bit hard to avoid that song, yeah?”

We laugh together and I happen to glance over and see the hilt, wrapped in its case by her bag. My smile falls and my pulse spikes.

I know Anna is ready, but that stupid fear rises up, clawing at me. I rip my eyes away from the sword and stand to stare out the window at the blackened night. If the Sword of Righteousness rejects Anna, it will be my fault.

“Hey,” Anna says softly, coaxing my eyes across the room to her. She stands on the opposite side of the bed, still in her towel, as am I. “It’ll be midnight soon. Our wedding day is almost over.”

I want to tell her it’s not too late to change her mind. That I’ll understand if she wants to remain a virgin, but then she says in a seductive voice, “Come here,” and I know her mind is set.

I slowly walk to my side of the bed, across from her, and put my hands on my head. Her hair is damp and her cheeks have pink spots. I feel so bloomin’ lucky for this entire day—the best day of my life.

In the next moment, when I blink, Anna opens her towel and drops it to the floor. Her chest rises and falls faster as she watches me. Then she climbs onto the bed and crawls, like a prowling cat, toward me. My body stiffens, in shock.

By the time she makes her way to me, rising up onto her knees, I am awake and alert.

“Are you scared?” she purrs. “Been too long? Out of practice?” Her head cocks to the side, a bad-girl grin on her face.

And then her words register.

Too scared to shag her? I can’t even dignify that with a response. I can’t even sputter. And then she gives me a purple-nurple, twisting my nipple.