War Bringer by Elaine Levine Page A

scissors, I can cut it, but I’m no stylist. And it doesn’t really look bad. For now.”
    “Do you like my hair longer?”
    Kelan’s face tightened. “I like your hair how you like it.”
    “But do you like it longer?”
    A rose color darkened his cheeks. “I do like it longer.”
    Fiona smiled. “Then we’ll leave it for now. And maybe I’ll grow it out after this.”
    He slipped his hands into her hair, spreading his fingers over the base of her skull. “I would like that. Ready for that shower?”
    She nodded.
    “Give me a minute.” He disappeared into the opposite toilet and shut the door.  
    Fiona quickly looked around for a toothbrush. There were several in a drawer still in their original packages. It was heaven to scrub her teeth—she was still doing it, in fact, when Kelan went to the sink to wash his hands.  
    It felt strangely comfortable standing with him in a shared bathroom, brushing her teeth. He was doing the same. He looked at her in the mirror. His eyes smiled at her. She looked away, shocked at how normal it all seemed.  
    When she finished with her teeth, she gathered a couple of towels and set them on the warming bars near the shower. She chanced a glance at Kelan. He was standing a few feet away. His eyes were heavy with unspoken words. She froze in place. Was now finally the time they would be together?

Chapter   Eight

    Kelan bent over to drop his briefs. Fiona lowered her eyes to give him privacy. He straightened. “Fiona. Look at me.”
    She lifted her eyes to his, but they moved down his chest to his navel, then up again to take in the broad width of his shoulders. He had very little chest hair. A narrow trail of dark hair led downward from his belly button to his boxer briefs…and the big bulge in them.
    “Don’t look away.” His voice was deep and steady. He pushed his briefs all the way down his legs and kicked them aside. She kept her eyes on his. Watching him, yet resisting her instinctive curiosity to look there , set her skin on fire. He didn’t move. There was no hurry in his eyes. He simply waited.
    The silk gown she wore irritated her erect nipples. A strange heat coiled low between her hips. She blinked. He waited. She looked at his chest and drew a deep breath. Her gaze moved lower, over the rippling muscles covering his ribs, to the dark hair leading down between his hips, then her eyes jumped to it .  
    It was huge. And darker than the rest of his body. It pointed slightly upward and to the left. At its base was a thick patch of dark, coarse hair.
    “Does my body please you, Fiona?” His voice was even deeper than usual, as if it was hard for him to breathe and speak simultaneously.
    She looked at him and nodded. Her mouth moved with her answer, but the sound never hit the air. She cleared her voice and tried again. “Yes.”
    “May I see your body?”
    Fiona licked her lips then lowered her gaze to the floor. Now was the moment she’d waited for so many months to experience. Now, when she hadn’t groomed herself as she would have wanted. She hadn’t shaved her legs or underarms in a couple of days. She wasn’t clean. Even her hair wasn’t her own.  
    “No.”
    “Why?”
    “I’m not ready.” She ventured a look and saw his wounded expression. “I mean, I’m ready. I’m sooo ready. I’m just not put together yet.”
    He closed the distance between them. Every step he took deepened the drumbeat of her heart. “We’re bathing. Nothing more.”
    “I want more.” He was only a foot away. So close, but he wasn’t touching her. “I want to be perfect for you.”
    He didn’t smile to alleviate her fears. The corners of his jaw worked. His nostrils flared. He reached for her hand and placed it on his heart. “You don’t understand the depth of my feelings for you. It has nothing to do with the shell of you. You are my other skin. Do I doubt my own flesh?” He shook his head. “No. Love is too shallow a word for what I feel. We are part of