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.
She’d had no idea she was so sensitive, or so receptive to pleasure. Or that Tyr could make her shiver with excitement and anticipation, just by rasping his sharp black stubble very lightly against her neck. And when his hands found her breasts—
‘Relax, Jazz,’ he whispered when she dragged in a shocked and shuddering breath.
At first she was too surprised to register anything apart from the shock. They might be husband and wife, but Tyr had touched a most private part of her. What shocked her most was that it was a part that badly wanted to be touched. When he drew her nipple into his mouth and gently tugged, sensation streamed through her. The thought that no man but Tyr had ever looked upon her naked body aroused her even more. Tyr’s kisses were deepening with every passing moment, and he was touching her everywhere that wanted to be touched until, far from needing lessons from him, she called upon her own, inbuilt intuition to show her how to respond. Though she did lose courage a little bit when his hand moved firmly over her belly.
‘We’re husband and wife, remember?’ Tyr’s eyes blazed into hers. ‘Unless you’d like me to stop?’
‘I don’t want you to stop.’ Though once she’d made this statement, her eyes begged him to be gentle with her.
Tyr answered this by kissing her again, his tongue plundering her mouth in a way that mimicked the act she was so afraid of.
‘You’re tensing up again,’ he said. ‘Why? You know I’d never hurt you, Jazz.’
His eyes were warm and concerned now as they stared into hers, and she hated lying to him. The ache inside her was unsustainable, but her fear of Tyr plundering her body was greater still.
‘Jazz,’ Tyr soothed as he smiled against her mouth.
He teased her with kisses, and then his hands began to stroke and soothe, and before she knew what was happening, the hunger for him had overtaken everything else. She held her breath when his hand travelled lower, his fingers grazing the place where she so badly needed him. The urgency to have her hunger answered was stronger than any fear she had ever known, and, arching her back in the hunt for more contact from his hand, she gave a soft moan of thanks when he found her.
And lost control instantly. Her world exploded in a burst of light, the pleasure so extreme, she was lost in a sea of violent, buffeting waves, while she bucked frantically and shamelessly, working her body against Tyr’s strong hand to prolong the incredible feeling for as long as she could.
She gasped as the storm subsided and, still recovering, could barely manage to gasp out a single word.
‘You’re very responsive, Princess,’ Tyr murmured against her mouth.
‘Are you surprised?’ She smiled into his eyes and saw an answering warmth. ‘So, I’m inexperienced,’ she challenged with a shrug. ‘I just hope you’re not laughing at me, Tyr Skavanga.’
‘I’m happy for you, Jazz,’ he whispered. ‘You’ve waited too long for that.’
