“Yeah? Well, no more holding back,” he murmured, leaning forward to plant kisses under the line of her jaw. “I’m yours.”

“I’m yours too.”

“For real? This delectable ass here is all mine?”

“Mmm. What are you going to do with it?”

“I want to sink my f**king teeth into it, for one thing.” She gasped and pushed at him playfully, but of course he didn’t budge. It only egged him on. “And spank it red, for another.”

“Brian!”

“And other things we don’t have to get into yet.”

Despite the heat in the shower, she shivered, wondering what he would demand of her as their sexual relationship progressed. It didn’t surprise her much to examine her feelings on the matter and realize she would be up for pretty much anything he asked. “As long as you’ll be patient with me on some of that stuff.”

“I would never ask you to do something you didn’t want, sweetie. But you have to speak up and tell me.”

“I want you any way I can have you.”

“We’ll take our time.” With both hands, he cupped her neck. And just looked at her, making her feel more cherished than she could ever remember. “Damn, Candace. I can’t believe we’re here like this.”

“I always wanted to be.”

After that, she took great pleasure in soaping him down, running her hands all over his hard body and inspecting the details of the designs on his skin. Yes, she definitely needed to thank Kara and Marco for their exquisite work. Some of it seemed to be flowing patterns, but if she followed them carefully she could distinguish other images. Like the green dragon wrapping up one arm and the mermaid and gorgeous blue rose on the other.

If she had to pick a favorite, it was the mermaid. She was incredibly beautiful and serene, sitting on the rocks, with long blond hair flowing over her bare br**sts.

“I love this one,” she murmured, trailing her fingers over it.

He looked sheepish. “You might not love the meaning behind it.”

“Why?”

“Well, mermaids lure sailors to their deaths. She’s so alluring, and he gets so desperate to catch her, he dives into the sea and drowns.”

“So you got it to remind you to watch out for those pesky mermaids?”

“That, I suppose, and women in general.”

She planted her hands on her hips and attempted to glare at him, but she couldn’t help but smile. “Women in general, huh?”

“I never wanted to let myself get derailed, or take my eyes off my goal by chasing after some distraction, or I might never come up for air.” He wasn’t smiling back. “That’s how I’ve felt lately, Candace. Like I’ve been drowning. A couple of nights with you and I was going under.”

She’d felt the exact same way. “Oh, Brian. I’m not trying to distract you—”

“I know, baby.” He tilted his arm in a bit so he could look at the artwork. “She looks like you, too. I never really noticed until after we’d spent the night together. So I thought I was going to be tortured for the rest of my life, having this constant reminder of you on me.”

She shook her head fiercely. “I’m here now and I’m not going anywhere unless you want me to.”

“Then we’re in for a long ride, because I can’t imagine ever wanting you to leave me.”

A warm, settling peace swelled through her at his words. His eyes were so intense she couldn’t look away. Her fingers trailed up to the rose on his biceps. Those eyes were the same vibrant blue as its petals. “What does the blue rose symbolize?”

The corner of his mouth quirked up. “Impossibility. Wanting something you can never have.”

“What is it you want?” she whispered.

“The very thing I’ve found right here.”

Stunned, she could only lean forward and rest her forehead against his collarbone, wrapping her arms as tight around him as she could. He went on. “If anyone else asked me that, I’d make up something. I’d never let anyone think I needed…this. But I’d be lying.”

“Wait a minute.” She lifted her head. “Doesn’t that mean those are conflicting symbols, then? Wanting love and warning yourself away from it at the same time?”

“Yeah, well, I’m a conflicted kind of guy.”

“Brian?”

“Hmm?”

“Can we go to bed now?”

He chuckled, pulling the hair away from the side of her neck and leaning down to trail kisses up the column to her ear. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Chapter Sixteen

Brian would say he felt like a teenager again, but hell, he hadn’t been this excited about his own first time.

And he didn’t deserve her. She could do so much better than him. But he was just the kind of selfish bastard to take advantage of a situation like that, though she had managed to drastically alter the selfish part, and maybe even the bastard part.

Now she was sprawled on the bed for him, her hips rolling in a sexy undulation as his fingers stroked her deep. “Brian, I’m going to…” The words became lost in a long, lilting moan.

“That’s it, sweetie.” God, he loved to watch her; it was so f**king hot when she came. She threw everything over, gave it all to him. No breathy shudders and sighs with her, it was as if the sensations he evoked in her ripped away all control and left her convulsing.

Her slick passage clamped tightly on his fingers as she tensed and arched and cried out his name, both her hands skimming from her br**sts down her stomach to frame her pu**y as he worked it through her climax. Those tight muscles were sucking his fingers so deep with every contraction he had to fight his own instincts as he drew them back out. Now that her hands had moved, one pink nipple was inches from his face, quivering with her panting breath. He attacked it with his lips and drew it deep, laving it as her head tossed on the pillow.

It was the second orgasm she’d had since lying down with him, both of them damn near effortless on his part. She wasn’t going to get any more open for him. She was ready. Goddamn, but she was so f**king ready.

As the tension fled her and she went boneless under him, he moved away from her, making quick work of rolling on the condom he’d brought to bed. She lay still with her eyes closed, but she was trembling so hard he could see it. He couldn’t wait to pull her close and absorb her vibrations.

Settling himself between the open cradle of her thighs, he guided himself to her entrance, nudging into the impossibly tight ring of muscle. Her eyes flew open and she stared up at him, her bottom lip quivering. That lip was too pink, too swollen, too tantalizing. He leaned down and lined it with the very tip of his tongue, drawing it between his lips to nibble it. Against the engorged tip of his cock, he felt her flare open the tiniest bit, the remaining aftershocks of her orgasm reaching for him. It almost sent him over the edge.

“Can I have it, baby?” he whispered.

She gave the briefest of nods, which caused her mouth to slide over his. “Yours.”

“Mine.” He gathered strength in his hips, slid forward against her resistance. It gave, and her fingernails dug into his shoulders as her eyes fell closed again. “No, open them, Candace, let me see you.”