The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

“Good. Your comfort is my utmost concern.” Water clung
to his lashes as he curled one hand around an ankle. He
grinned, his gaze rising to mine as he lifted my leg. My
breath snagged as he placed my foot on his shoulder. The
position left me…oh, gods, it left me utterly exposed to him.
A shaky breath left me as I watched him shift his gaze to
my very center. A hint of fang appeared behind his parted
lips, and everything inside me twisted most deliciously. My
palms flattened against the smooth bench as he drew his
soapy hands up my calf and then my thigh. I held my breath
as his fingers reached the crease between my hip and thigh.
He dragged his hand along the inside of my leg, his
knuckles brushing my most sensitive area. Air punched out
of my lungs.
Casteel’s hand stopped there as he met my gaze. “Still
comfortable?”
“Yes,” I whispered.
That sensually cruel smile of his appeared, and tension
gathered sweetly in my body. He dragged his hand back
down as the mist of water continued wetting my skin. When
he finished, he placed my foot back on the floor and then
lifted my other leg. Cooler air rushed against my heated
flesh. He did the same as before, sliding the soap between
my toes, over the pad of my foot, and then up and up my
leg. I tensed, nearly straining in anticipation, my heart
pounding as his knuckles once more grazed my core.
Drawing his hand back down the length of my leg, he wiped
away the soap and bent his head, kissing the jagged scar on
the inside of my knee.
Hooking his arm around my calf, Casteel didn’t put my
foot down on the floor. He moved in closer, the width of his
shoulders widening my legs.
My heart stuttered as my eyes widened. A wave of taut
shivers cascaded through me. Not even that morning he’d
woken from the nightmare and had been close to bloodlust