Burning Up

leave that small town with her. “After that, I don’t know.”
    She didn’t want to think beyond that time. Weeks ago, Eben had told her the return voyage would take twenty days. Those days were all she could focus on now. She’d missed him so much, even knowing he would come back. She couldn’t imagine how deep the ache would be when she couldn’t look forward to his return.
    Eben’s throat worked as if he had to force himself to swallow. His gaze fell to the sheath again, and a bleak expression moved across his face. Ivy only had a moment to wonder about it before determination firmed his mouth. “Alright, then. Hold on, Ivy.”
    He gripped the bed rail and hauled back. Ivy grasped his shoulders for support as the mattress suddenly jolted forward several feet. She heard the clacking of gears from inside the platform beneath the bed, and when she glanced back, saw a second mattress rising into the space he’d made.
    No, not a second mattress—it was the other half of the bed . Her mouth dropped open.
    She whipped around to face him. “All this time?”
    “Yes.” He yanked off his left boot, tossed it to the floor. He hesitated after he pulled off the right, and glanced up at her. “Do you want me to keep my leg covered?”
    Oh, heavens. Wordlessly, Ivy held up her metal hands. A smile softened the corners of his mouth. He pressed a kiss to her fingers before cupping her nape and coming in for a long taste of her lips. A moan worked up through her throat, and her need built with each hot stroke of his tongue. Tugging his shirt from his breeches, she rediscovered muscles too long unexplored by her hands.
    Her nails scraped over his chest. Eben broke their kiss, his lips tracing a path over her jaw. Heat seared her nerves as he nipped the tender skin above her guild tattoo, soothed it with a lick. She cried out in surprise as he dipped his head to her breast and suckled strongly through the thin nightgown. Her hands shook; her head fell back. The world seemed to spin about, her body the center. Then his right hand skimmed up her inner thigh, and the center shifted and contracted to the rough glide of his skin, the bold caress through her slick folds, the press of his fingers against her entrance. Her nails dug into his shoulders.
    He lifted his head and his dark gaze locked on hers. “You’ll take me, Ivy. First like this. And when you’re ready, you’ll take all of me.”
    “Yes.” Anticipation shivered across her skin. “I’m ready now.”
    “Are you?”
    His gaze didn’t leave her face as his fingers curled into her. Delicate flesh yielded to his penetration, sending ripples of pleasure beneath her skin. Ivy gasped, her hips rocking forward, her eyes glazing. Oh, blue heavens. This was . . . so good.
    And not enough. “More.”
    Eben groaned her name, burying his face in her neck. His fingers stroked deep and slow. “This first time won’t go easy. I want you to come like this, so you’ll enjoy at least part of it.”
    She’d love all of it, even if it hurt. But this didn’t. Ecstasy was quickly unwinding through her, twisting and loosening with each pump of his hand. She barely felt the slide of cotton down her arms. Then he licked her nipple and all that she could feel was his tongue and his strong fingers, pushing her higher. With a gruff sound of pleasure, he sucked the taut peak into his mouth, his thumb caressed the swollen bud of her sex and she was there, shaking and clenching—and ready for more.
    Her hands dove to the front of his breeches. A strangled noise came from his throat, something like Wait , but her nimble fingers had already unfastened the buttons and found him, thick and hot in her palms.
    “Ivy—”
    He broke off as her fingers slid over the wide tip, spreading the drop of his seed. Her gaze lifted to his. “Come into the bed now. Come into me .”
    His throat worked. “Yes.”
    At his rough reply, she scooted back, pushing the nightgown past her hips and kicking it away. Eben shoved his breeches down and looked up at her. His gaze stilled on her legs, jumped to her breasts, and fell to the curls between her thighs before rising to her face.
    “You take my breath, Ivy.”
    And he would make her cry if he didn’t stop that. Reaching forward, she drew him to her—skin to skin, for the first time. He lay at her side, his mouth finding hers, his hands stroking her back toward the edge. She trembled with need as he unwrapped the sheath, smoothing it over his