Page 106 of Reap & Sow

“I would not know.” His voice was all rocks and crashing seas, his every muscle tight with restraint. “Right now, I can’t recall any of them.”

She exhaled at the praise. “Tell me what mir’han means. Properly.”

He looked at her through sooty lashes. His throat bobbed, and it took him a moment to form the words. “It is…a name reserved for lovers. Literally, it means my own heart.”

Eda smiled and dropped the linen.

Kit’s jaw snapped shut. Still, he did not move.

She whispered his name.

He made another aborted move toward her. “I cannot—I’ve already taken too much from you.”

Eda blinked. Of all the ways he might have reacted, she hadn’t expected this. “You’re not taking anything. Pleasure is meant to be shared, isn’t it?” Then, coyly: “Unless you aren’t as capable as you say. You claimed once that you knew how to put your mouth to good use, but perhaps that’s all talk—”

Kit lunged.

Eda yelped in surprise as he hauled her against him. His hands were hot brands on the small of her back, her neck, the swell of her arse. He whispered something in feverish Infernal, and then his mouth was on hers.

How typical, she thought with amusement, that a challenge was what roused him to action.

Her standing in the tub meant they were of an equal height, and Kit took immediate advantage. He was everywhere at once. His mouth slid relentlessly against hers. He caught her lip, sucked at it until she moaned. His fingers threaded through her damp curls, around the base of her skull. The other traced the side of her breast. Not to be outdone, she kissed him back fiercely. Eda slid hands over his collarbones and under his shirt, delighting in the way he shivered.

His rumbles of pleasure were a revelation. She broke the kiss to gasp, but Kit was ravenous. He followed her retreating mouth, pressing forward—

Eda lost her balance. She shrieked and tumbled back into the bath, clinging to Kit’s shirt. He was dazed enough to be dragged in after her. Water splashed. They writhed in shock, limbs tangled.

Kit blinked in a drenched stupor. “Shit.”

Eda laughed. She tried to rise, but he was already curling around her like a giant snake. Kit dragged her close and kissed her again, heedless of his soaked clothes and hair. His mouth found her jaw, her ear. He bit it gently. She gasped. He worried the skin beneath with wet, open-mouthed kisses, moving down her throat. Lower. Lower still.

When his mouth found her breast, Eda stopped thinking. He nuzzled the soft skin there, tracing around the sensitive peak with his lips but never touching, over and over. His hand came up to subject the other to the same torment. She thought she might lose her mind. Lust was a cloud, heady and agonizing and wonderful.

“Kit,” she begged, “please—”

His mouth found her nipple at once. His fingers rolled the other. Eda moaned loudly, which she might have been embarrassed about if she weren’t so desperate for him to continue. She was embers bursting into a roaring tower of flame, spreading—a boiling ocean into rivers into streams, burning through every limb. It felt incandescently good to be selfish like this. To have something that was hers alone. To have him.

She ran fingers through his wet hair. He groaned. She tightened her fist. He hissed. It was cramped in the cooling tub, and Eda’s hip ached where she had fallen. But there was nowhere else she’d rather be. Except…

“The bed,” she gasped, feebly trying to pull his head from her breast.

Kit growled in displeasure and shook her off. “I’m quite comfortable here.” He flicked his tongue—Eda’s eyelids fluttered.

“Well, I could be comfier.” She tugged again. Her voice and grip were weak, but he heeded her. In a rush she was scooped up, water dripping from them both. Kit crossed the room so quickly it took her breath away. She was thrown onto the bed, still bouncing when he crawled over her.

“We’ll—we’ll get the bed wet.”

“Fuck the bed.” He moved to kiss her again.

She stopped him. Tugged at his wet shirt. “Off.”

He shed it with comical haste. His trousers went next, and then he was as naked as she, resplendent in the dim light. He dragged her beneath him. Kissed her more slowly now: her neck, her shoulder, the space between her breasts. Every touch was fevered but measured, tangibly forcing himself to slow down. To take his time, as though she were something precious. Something he might not get again.

Eda cupped his face.

Kit stilled, panting.

“I want you.”