Kicking his pants free, he went base to head with his palm, finding a slow rhythm that juiced his erection up more than some of the best sex he’d actually had—and that was not because of his handling technique. It was all because of Mae. Her mere presence, even without any physical contact between them, was hotter than the other females he’d physically been with.

He didn’t know why. And he wasn’t inclined to waste time on that one.

He had a feeling the answer would scare the shit out of him—

As Mae lifted her fingers to her mouth, she brushed her lower lip back and forth like she was imagining him kissing her—

Sahvage hissed and squeezed his eyes shut. He was so on the verge already and he didn’t want it to end so soon. This sacred space, just for the two of them, was like a vault locking out the world, and fuck, he wanted that right now. Had wanted this kind of amnesia for a long time.

Except then he had to pop his lids again. And get back to work.

As the heat rose, and his cock became hypersensitive, he tightened his grip and moved faster.

“Say my name,” he commanded. “I want to hear it.”

“Sahvage . . .”

“Do you want this?”

“God . . . yes.” She closed her eyes. But only for a split second. “I want you.”

“How much.” Faster. Faster. “Tell me how much.”

“So bad. Sahvage . . .”

As she moaned his name, he let go of the wall and grabbed a towel, but he didn’t cover the head of his arousal. He put the soft folds out in front as the ejaculations started so she could watch, so she could imagine him filling her up, his rhythm unchanging as he milked himself into her. And fuck, he wanted to keep looking at her, but the pleasure was so intense, his lids squeezed shut on their own.

Fine. He would just picture him on top of her, her breasts against his pecs, her legs spread wide, her body arching to receive what he was pumping off into her—

He started to come again. Before he’d even finished.

God, the only thing that could have made this hotter? Was if she were orgasming along with him.

• • •

Mae had to hold herself in place against the bathroom door. Sahvage’s body was magnificent, so powerful, so virile, the contracting muscles of his massive pecs and arms in stark contrast to her own body, that tattoo of his bringing an edge of danger, the scent of him too delicious to describe. And his broad hand on that thick erection? She was going to be seeing that on the backs of her lids for pretty much the rest of her sleeping days. Maybe during the waking nights, too.

God, she hoped Tallah didn’t wake up. For like a year.

Meanwhile, Sahvage just kept orgasming, and it was . . . beautiful. It was raw, and a little scary because he was so big. But he seemed to understand that opening the door—literally and proverbially—to her doing that to him was going to have to be on her time.

She couldn’t imagine pleasuring him like that. But she was willing to bet he’d show her what she needed to do—

Why not, she thought. What was she waiting for?

Mae stepped forward toward him, and as she did, she was nervous. Especially as his eyes flared like she’d surprised him. She was not turning back, though. When was she going to get another chance like this?

Especially because she knew he was temporary in her life.

“What do I do?” she said softly.

There was a pause, as if he wasn’t sure what she was asking.

“Anything you like.” He let go of himself and leaned back against the wall by the shower. “You can touch me anywhere you goddamn like, and any way you want.”

“But what . . .” As he looked at her in confusion, she flushed. “I, ah—tell me what pleases you.”

“Your hands on me. Wherever. Your mouth. All over me. That’s what I want.” Abruptly, Sahvage stiffened. “Mae . . . have you ever touched a male before?”

Well, crap. She wanted to lie. She wanted to front like she was sophisticated, like she was that brunette, all sexually confident. Like she was anything other than what she really was. But this was not something to hide, even if it made her cringe.

And besides, what did she have to be ashamed about?

Mae shook her head. “No.”

He blinked. Twice. And then he covered his sex with the towel.

Swallowing a curse, Mae stepped back. Until the closed door caught her shoulder blades with a bump.

“Changes things, huh.” She brushed her hair out of her face. “Sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologize for.”

“I know.” Clearing her throat, she shrugged and rubbed her upper arms for warmth. “My parents were super conservative so both my brother and I . . . well, that’s not important now. Such a mood killer, though. Looks like I’ll be leaving now.”

As she fumbled her way out of the bathroom, her heart was pounding and a chill followed her, although she had a feeling that was because the cold spot was inside her body and unrelated to any drafts.

The thing was, waiting until she was mated to have sex was how she’d been raised, and it hadn’t been something she’d thought a lot about. All her feedings had been supervised, and the couple of times she’d had her needing, she’d gone to the race’s healer for sedation. Finding a male and settling down had always been a sometime-in-the-future kind of fantasy. And after her parents’ deaths in the raids, romance had been the last thing on her mind. She’d needed to make sure she had enough money, and that the house was taken care of, and that everything didn’t fall apart, especially when it came to Rhoger.

Yeah, and look how well that had turned out.

But what the hell did all that matter now.

What she had to do was re-ice her dead brother. Because as gruesome as her nightly job was, it was a better option than being here with all her virgin status out in the open while a smoking-hot male took a lucky, lucky bar of soap for a test drive on his proverbial racetrack. And yeah, sure, she was supposed to be all self-actualized and stuff, all female-hear-her-roar, unapologetic of the choice she’d made about sex—which hadn’t felt like any choice at all, P.S.—but when you were attracted to a male and you were past the age when most females had had a couple of lovers? You felt like something was wrong with you.

And God, the way he’d covered himself? It was like he thought he was a dirty pervert or something. But come on, consenting adults and all that.

The bathroom door opened. And Sahvage came out, fully clothed.

Mae put her hand up. “Please. Don’t say it.”

“How do you know what I was going to say?”

“I can guess. You’re sorry, it won’t happen again, you didn’t know, couldn’t guess, didn’t mean to offend me.” She cursed under her breath. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

He nodded at something in her hand. “Are you leaving now?”

Mae glanced down and discovered she’d gotten her jacket and her purse. Huh. Go figure. “Ah, yes. I am. But I’ll be right back.”

“Mae.”

She closed her eyes at his tone. There was so much compassion in it, pity, too. And if that didn’t just suck the sexy right out of the air between them. Not that there was anything left of that heat.

Mae shook her head. “I can’t talk about this now.” Try, ever. “Besides, there are more important things to worry about. See you in a little bit.”