Page 12 of Night Embrace (Dark-Hunter 2)
"I noticed." But what made it so bad was that she continued to stare at his erection. She had yet to look anywhere else.
"You really are a big man."
For the first time in over a thousand years, he felt his cheeks warm. Grabbing the towel, Talon covered himself.
Only then did she look away. "Here, let me get you a razor." She dropped to her knees, giving him a nice view of her bottom as she rummaged around in a makeshift pink wicker cabinet next to the pedestal sink. Her hips moved provocatively as she searched, only adding to his desire.
He clenched his teeth. That woman had the sexiest bottom he'd ever seen. One that made his groin burn even more as he thought about lifting that gauzy skirt and burying himself deep inside her. Of sliding himself in and out of her moist heat until they were both sweaty and spent.
Oh yeah, she was definitely a woman who could satisfy a man. He'd always been partial to women with lush curves and...
She emerged with a pink razor and toothbrush.
Talon curled his lip at the thought of using such girly items. "Do you own anything not pink?"
"I have a purple razor if you'd rather."
"Please."
She pulled out a darker pink one.
"That's not purple," Talon said. "It's pink too."
She rolled her eyes at him. "Well, that's all I have unless you want my X-Acto blade."
Extremely tempted, he took the razor from her.
Sunshine didn't move until he got into the claw-footed tub and pulled the shower curtain closed. Only then did she allow herself to bite her knuckles at the luscious view of his naked backside. She was definitely going to have to sketch him.
That man was hot. Burning. And every time he spoke with that wildly exotic accent of his, she melted. It sounded like some unique combination of English and Scottish.
Fanning her face, she forced herself to leave the bathroom and head back to her kitchen. But what she really wanted to do was peel her clothes off, climb into the shower behind him, and lather that lush, tall, lean body of his until he begged her for mercy.
The feel of all that supple, hard skin under her hands... Heaven. Pure heaven.
And he hadn't even gotten mad about his pants! She still couldn't believe how well he took it all. Normally, guys would be shouting at her by now and she'd be giving them the heave-ho out the door.
But he had merely shrugged it off. Oooo, she liked that.
Now that she thought about it, he really didn't have a whole range of emotions that he showed. He was patience incarnate, which was a very nice change of pace.
"Hey, Steve?" she called.
"My name isn't Steve," he said from the shower. "It's Talon."
"Talon what?"
"Just Talon."
She smiled. Talon. It suited him.
"What did you want?" he called.
"What?" she asked.
"You called me like you had a question. What do you need?"
Sunshine bit her lip as she tried to remember. Oops. "I forgot."
She actually heard him laugh. Wow. That was a first. By now most guys would be flaming mad at her.
Sunshine spent the next five minutes trying to find her sketchbook, which she had somehow placed in the refrigerator. Again. She took a seat at her breakfast counter and started sketching her newest find.
Talon.
She took her time drawing the well-sculpted planes of his face, the intricate tattoo on his body. She'd never seen any man with proportions more perfect. And before she knew it, she was lost in those lines. Lost in her mind as she let her creativity flow and reproduce the things she found so incredibly fascinating about the man in her shower.
Before she realized how much time had passed, he turned the shower off and came out from behind the curtain with a damp towel draped around his lean hips.
Oh, mama.
Sunshine once again felt the urge to bite her hand in appreciation. With the exception of the two thin braids that swung with his movements, his golden-blond hair was slicked back and his jet-black eyes flashed with intelligence and arcane power. She'd never seen eyes so dark, especially on a blond man.
He had such a powerful presence that it made her breathless just to look at him. It was as if the very air around him were rife with energy and strength, and she wished most of all that she could capture that with her art.
But no one would ever be able to duplicate or create an aura so intense. It was something that could only be experienced in the flesh.
With every step he took closer to her, her heart pounded harder. The man was so overwhelmingly masculine. So very choice.
His intensity, his raw animal magnetism... set fire to her blood.
He'd been handsome last night in her bed, but upright and conscious, he was totally devastating.
"You know, Talon," she said, tracing the lines of his perfect muscles with her gaze. "Towels look really good on you. You go outside like that and you'll start a whole new fashion craze."
An amused smile hovered at the edges of his lips. "Do you always say everything that comes to your mind?"
"Mostly. I do have some thoughts I keep to myself. I used to not care and would say anything at all, but then one time my college roommate called the psycho unit on me. You know, they really do have white coats."
Talon arched a brow at the sincerity he sensed from her. That was a true story. The woman was eccentric, no doubt, but far from a crackpot.
Well, maybe not that far.
She reached over to his untouched "breakfast" and picked up the so-called muffin that had shiny little particles in it he couldn't even begin to identify. "You still haven't eaten your muffin."
Yeah, right. He still hadn't eaten his boots either, and he'd rather feast on one of them than that thing in her hand.
"I'm not hungry."
At least not for food.
She dropped the muffin to the counter and he swore it thunked. Her brow furrowing, she reached out and touched his tore. Her fingers brushed against the skin of his neck, raising chills and other things on his body.
"This is so beautiful. I've always wanted a tore, but never could find one that seemed like me." She ran her thumb over the right dragon head. "Are you from Scotland?"
"Not exactly," he said, watching the way she studied the piece, which had been a gift from his aunt on his wedding day. Both he and Nynia had received matching tores from her. He didn't know why he still wore it, other than the fact that taking it off would cause him more pain than he was willing to deal with. In some odd way, removing the tore would be like losing Nynia all over again.
Against his will, his mind drifted back to the moment when Nynia had placed the tore around his neck. Her smile had been blinding and her face filled with love as she kissed him on his lips.
Gods, how he missed her. Even after all these centuries.
There were times when he swore he could still smell the warmth of her hair. Feel her touch. It was like the ghost itch of a missing limb that, even years later, you swore you could still feel.
There was something about Sunshine that reminded him of his wife. And it wasn't just the fact that both women possessed the ability to drive him crazy.
