He slid his hands under her tunic, cupping the mostly bare cheeks of her ass. The thin fabric she wore over her sex was far too rough for such delicate skin. She deserved silk. Or better yet, nothing at all.

“Need you naked,” he told her as he pulled on the leather tie that held her tunic closed.

The garment fell forward. She pulled back, holding it against her breasts. Her lips were already puffy from kissing him. A deep flush covered her face and neck. Her hair was a wild, dark mane around her head. Her eyes stayed fixed to his as she moved her hands and let the tunic fall.

Torr lost all ability to speak. Or think. The sight of Grace’s mostly naked body straddling his was more than even a strong man like him could take.

So beautiful. So tempting.

Her breasts were the perfect size for his big hands. Her nipples were tight buds that made his mouth water. The curve of her waist and the flare of her hips were enough to make him fight the need to come in his jeans.

“More naked,” he managed to rasp out between labored breaths.

Grace rose to her feet in a move so fluid it made him think of lazy rivers and dew dripping from blades of grass. She let the tunic fall. A swift pull on the knot at her waist and the fabric wound between her thighs unraveled around her ankles.

More of Torr’s brain cells sputtered and died as he soaked in the sight of her. He’d intended only to look, but his hands gripped her hips and tugged her closer.

The dark hair shielding her sex was visibly damp. Her sea-salt-and-woman scent went straight to his head, intoxicating him further. He knew if he touched her and found her wet for him, he would mount her and be thrusting inside her before he even had time to find out if it was what she wanted.

He prayed it was what she wanted.

Rather than let himself get carried away, he slid his shaking hands over the leather ties at her calves until he found how they were fastened. A few quick tugs of his fingers, and even those were gone, leaving her completely naked.

Torr got to his feet in an uncharacteristically clumsy move. He needed to put a few feet between them before he dove in headfirst and took what he wanted from her. His sweet Grace was too precious to treat like some kind of whore.

His cock swelled and throbbed, beating in insistent demand. He ignored it and simply looked his fill.

“I want to see you,” she whispered. “Before all the light is gone.”

“If I take off my jeans, there won’t be anything to slow me down.”

She took a tentative step forward. Her voice was a sultry temptation. “I don’t want slow. I want you.”

He couldn’t let her change her mind. She could have whatever she wanted—whatever got her off so long as she didn’t change her mind.

Torr stripped off his boots, unbuckled his sword and shucked his jeans in record time. He stood before her naked and blatantly aroused. She was only a few steps away. Even as low as the last light of the setting suns was, there was no way she couldn’t see what she did to him.

Her chest stopped moving for too long. He was so attuned to her that he hadn’t even realized he’d been keeping tabs on her breathing. It must have been habit from all that time he’d spent at her bedside, hoping she would recover from healing his paralysis.

“Breathe, Grace. Or I’ll do it for you.” He’d done it before, filling her lungs with air to keep her alive. He’d do it again in a heartbeat if she needed it.

Her breasts lifted with a deep breath, giving him an awkward mix of relief and arousal. His erection twitched, lunging toward her like it had a mind of its own.

“You’re beautiful,” she told him, awe plain in her voice.

She took a step forward. Then another. She was within his reach now, but he kept his hands at his sides.

Her fingers traced the branches of his lifemark. A hard shiver raced through him, making every muscle clench as it passed.

“Did that hurt?” she asked, pulling her hand away.

“Only if you don’t touch me again.”

She did, only this time the caress was lighter. “It’s moving, isn’t it?”

He couldn’t answer. His throat was clogged with need so huge it nearly choked him.

He wanted her to be his partner. Forever. He wanted her to take her place at his side and draw strength from him. In this moment, he would have made a deal with the Solarc if it meant she could be his other half.

Grace pressed her cheek to his chest. “I swear I can hear it move. Is that even possible?”

He didn’t know. Couldn’t think. Her head was over his heart, and there was nothing he could do but wrap his arms around her and hold her there, wishing it could be the place she laid her head each night.

This woman was meant to be his, and it was a cruel twist of fate that he couldn’t keep her—at least not as long as he wanted.

Before bleak thoughts could slip in and ruin what they had here and now, Torr lifted her chin and kissed her. He put the full force of his will into it, holding nothing back. He let her feel his need. Didn’t even try to hide it. He knew that feelings this strong would blast their way through the disk she wore and give her a tiny fraction of his need.

By the time he lifted his mouth from hers, she was gasping for air, clinging to him. “I feel like I’ve done this before,” she said, “but I know if I had, I would have remembered it.”

He didn’t want to talk about memories or the past. He wanted to grab on to the present and wring from it every drop of pleasure he could. For both of them.

Her nipples grazed his chest. He bent her back over his arm just enough that he could reach them with his mouth. The high cry of surprise she gave him was the sweetest kind of music. If he got his way, he was going to be hearing a lot more of that before he let her rest.

She gripped his hair in both fists and held on tight. He felt the moment her legs weakened, but he simply accepted more of her weight, thrilled to his core that she would trust him not to let her fall.

He suckled her, making note of what made her thighs clench, what made her let out those musical sighs. It was only when his own legs got a little shaky with lust that he decided to move the fun to the ground.

He arranged their discarded clothes into as smooth a pallet as possible and eased Grace onto it. “I don’t want to hurt your back again.”

She looped her arms around his neck. “I don’t think I’d notice this time.”

When she pulled him down to kiss her again, he had no choice but to go where she led. If he ran the show, he’d already be inside her.