When I woke up the next morning, I could feel the warm sun shining on my bare shoulders, and I smiled before I even opened my eyes, remembering the night before and how Soren had made me feel. No one had ever worshiped my body like he had. And no one had ever made me want to return that adoration tenfold.
I stretched my arm to the other side of the bed where Soren slept and felt butterflies beat their wings against my belly when my palm landed on his chest. He'd stayed in bed with me. I'd not even asked him to, never mentioned how important it was that I not be alone after sharing such an intimate moment.
Something Archer had never seemed to care about, and he knew. I'd asked him not to leave me. And he had. Every time.
But not Soren. Not this perfect, precious creature that lay next to me now.
Rolling over on my side to face him, my eyes traced every detail of his face—the slope of his nose, his dark, arched eyebrows, smooth olive skin, and his long, black lashes barely grazing the skin under his eyes.
He was truly the most beautiful man I'd ever encountered, and although he was genetically identical to Archer apart from their eyes, his beauty was on another level. It radiated straight from his heart and soul, and that made him perfect. There was no comparison when it came to him.
I brushed a stubborn piece of hair from his forehead, and he stirred awake. His eyelids fluttered open, his icy blue gaze piercing me to the core.
"Good morning, Soren," I whispered, leaning forward and planting a kiss under his ear.
He stretched his arms above his head and groaned with a wide smile on his face. Looking down at me, he said, "Good morning, Gemma. I can't remember the last time I slept that well."
I snuggled in the crook of his arm and tangled my legs with his. "Me either. Thank you for staying in bed with me. I assume that," I glanced at his alarm clock, "11:27 A.M. probably isn't your usual wake-up hour."
"No," he said, his voice cloaked with a sexy morning rasp. "But I'm normally not completely exhausted when I go to bed either. But I really enjoyed the activities that put me in such a state."
"Me too."
"Would you like me to make you breakfast?"
I sat up and nodded eagerly. "Yes. But...isn't Archer here? I really don't want to put up with that after such an amazing night."
Soren ran his fingers up the bumps of my spine. "He lives here. Are you planning to hide in my room until you're sure he's gone?"
I ran my fingers through his hair and kissed the corner of his mouth. "Is that an option? Because I wouldn't mind hanging out here with you indefinitely. It's not like I'll have anywhere else to be in a week or so."
"The only problem is that your brother will notice you're missing and say something to your parents, and your evil cousin will be more than happy to turn this hotel upside down looking for you and then claim it a total loss. Do you see where I'm going with this?" He turned his head and kissed me. "Up with you, Gemma. You can't hide your life away in here with me, I won't allow it."
Soren stood, swept me into his arms, and tossed me over his shoulder. He carried me into the bathroom where there was a modern stone tiled shower. Setting me on the bench that could easily accommodate both of us, he turned on the shower. The water flowed down from a large square showerhead hanging from the ceiling and slowly fogged the glass door. He took the handheld head from the wall and drenched every firm inch of his body.
"I'm happy to clean your back if you like," he said with a cheeky smile.
I pulled my hair out of the poor excuse for a bun that sat on top of my head and let the strands fall around my shoulders. "What about my front?" I asked, biting my lip to keep a straight face.
He pressed the soap dispenser on the wall and rubbed his hands together until suds seeped from between his fingers. "Come find out."
Without hesitation, I closed the distance between us and put my palms on his abs, running my hands all the way up his chest, around the back of his neck and into his hair. "Well? You've got me in your clutches now; what are you going to do?" I said just loud enough to be heard over the stream of water.
Soren brought his hands to my shoulders and worked small soapy strokes into my skin. "I'm just going to take my time cleaning every inch of you that I so thoroughly dirtied last night."
I stretched my neck back and stared at the ceiling for a moment before closing my eyes, a little groan of pleasure escaping me. "Please, and then...well, I'd be okay with getting dirty again."
Turning around so my back was against his front, I pressed myself hard against him while his hands worked the soap into my skin, wandering everywhere except the places I ached for him most. I lifted one arm and wrapped it around his neck, tilting my head to the side so he had more access to the soft skin on my throat.
He kissed my shoulders as his fingers inched their way back up my stomach until he held both my breasts in his palms. A wave of desire rushed to my sex when he pinched and pulled both of my nipples. I arched my back, pressing my ass into his growing erection and making him moan against my neck. "Place your hands on the wall," he whispered.
I nodded, pulling my bottom lip between my teeth, and did as he asked, one hand gripping a stone on the textured wall and the other palm resting parallel to it. I didn't want to lose contact with his skin, so I stuck my ass out as far as it could go to keep that connection. I never wanted there to be a moment where I wasn't touching him.
I rested my head on my right bicep and waited for him to either tell me what he wanted me to do next or feel the pleasure he was about to bestow upon me.
His slick body slid down mine, and he took both my hips in his hands as he kissed the back of my thighs. He took his time adorning each leg with affectionate presses of his mouth and the occasional nip of his teeth, but he eluded the place I wanted to feel him the most. As if they were memorizing every pore of my body, his fingers crawled across my hips, meeting in the middle where they dipped between my legs.
"You are already so fucking wet for me," Soren said against the swell of my ass and dipped his fingers inside me.
Again, I lifted my chin toward the ceiling and a cry of ecstasy dripped from my lips. "I'm always like this around you," I breathed, gripping the wall harder as my legs began to quiver. "And if I'm not around you, I'm thinking about being around you." The admission made my stomach twist, and I hoped it wasn't too close to a declaration of love.
He stood, running his tongue along my back and nudging my legs apart with his hands. When his body was flush with mine, the hard length of him pressed to my entrance. He placed his hands over mine on the wall, intertwining our fingers as he sank into me. Soren was slow and gentle, and with each deep stroke, my composure melted.
My moans became louder, and the more vocal I was, the faster he moved. As my climax drew nearer and nearer, my cries were desperate—desperate to feel the release that he so expertly drew from me, desperate to know his pleasure was fulfilled, desperate to never, ever have to let go of this feeling.
"Soren," I whispered, leaning my head back against him. "I'm so close." My breaths were ragged and my voice hoarse as I begged for more.
His hips hitting my wet ass made an erotic clap, joining with the grunted command in my ear. "Come for me."
As my body contracted in an intense orgasm, he grew harder, hitting that place inside me that made me cry his name. A string of curse words left Soren's mouth as he too reached the height of bliss. His movements slowed until every drop of him was spent inside me.
My knees buckled and he gathered me into his arms, sitting on the bench and cradling me to his chest. After catching my breath, I opened my eyes and looked up at him. "How am I supposed to go without that when I leave the day after tomorrow?"
He kissed my forehead and said, "You will just have to promise to come back and let me have my way with you again and again until you tire of me."
A weak laugh rattled my lips. "That will never happen."
"I hope it doesn't."
After actually getting cleaned up, we left the bathroom, both wrapped in plush bathrobes that smelled of saffron and sandalwood. Before we went into the kitchen, I grabbed his hand and pulled him back to me. "Wait," I said. "I want to ask you something."
"Anything," he said, looking down at me expectantly.
"Can I—I mean, will you show me your true form? We talked about it at Christmas and I just...I keep thinking about it. Would you?"
Soren's laughter filled his bedroom. "It's not that impressive to be honest."
"Can I be the judge of that?" I asked, placing my hands on my hips.
"Far be it for me to deny you the chance to behold the glory of a Kobold."
He took a step back but kept his eyes on me. They glowed like blue lightning against the night sky. And then his robe fell to the floor in a puddle. I twirled around looking for him, but he was gone.
"Soren?" A burst of blue light zipped by in the corner of my vision. I followed the glow, but it was like trying to keep an eye on a bee in flight. Holding my hand out, I said, "Can you hear me?"
The ball of light slowed and drifted to my palm. I don't know what I expected to see when I leaned in closer to him, but he was nothing more than a glimmer of aqua radiating the same shade. He was too small to see with the human eye.
I lifted my hand to eye level and whispered, "Wow, that's incredible." I sat on the bed and crossed my legs, keeping my eyes on the shimmering ball in my hand. "So...do you just...transform back?"
Soren jetted away from my palm and just as quickly as he vanished, he reappeared naked. "I told you it wasn't that amazing."
I dragged my gaze up and down his impressive frame and a grin spread across my face. "It was pretty incredible, but this," I flicked my eyes down and then back to his face, "is even better."
He reached for his robe and tied it back around his body. "I like this form better as well. This has been my real skin for my entire life. Archer and I didn't even know we could shift forms until Hazel took over and allowed us to research what we are."
I couldn't imagine living a life so void of freedom that I couldn't even find out more about such an important aspect of my life. My parents might be overbearing and impossible to please, but at least they never restricted my internet usage.
"Well, as long as I'm here, I'd like for you to stay in this form," I murmured, taking his hand and crawling off the bed. "Now, can you make me breakfast?"