Page 96 of Burn of Obsidian

Her mouth snapped shut, eyes narrowing on the twitch of his upper lip.

Bastard.

But if he was going to ignore the awkwardness, so could she – probably.

“How’s your side?” he asked, his cool gaze assessing. The complete opposite of the burn she was experiencing.

“Fine,” she grumbled, lifting her shirt and touching the edge of the bandage she didn’t even remember being applied. Nor did she remember putting the shirt back on.

Fuck. She’d lectured Molly on how to be safe when drinking and there she was, a hypocrite.

“So, we have the page. What’s next?” The cut twinged a little if she moved, but nothing she couldn’t handle. It seemed she was making a habit of collecting new scars.

“Next, we finish what you started.”

There was an anticipation as Jax showed her to his room, the click of the door locking causing her heart to skip. She expected straight lines and dark colours, and that was exactly what she got. Raw woods and steel edges, warmed only by the navy colouring of the sheets.

Thea chuckled, finding the pillow she’d bought him taking pride of place in the centre of his bed. “You kept it.” Reaching across, she brushed her fingers over the soft fabric, smiling at the embroidered dicks. Ones that matched the bands encircling her wrists.

Jax kept his silence, eyes a brand as he patiently waited for her to study his room.

Putting the pillow back down, she took her time, enjoying learning more about him. His room screamed practicality, all with a small touch of comfort. Weights were neatly stacked in the corner, each meticulously placed and shining as if freshly cleaned. There was a desk, made from a deep mahogany that was clear of mess. A stack of papers lay in a perfectly neat pile, written in a language she wasn’t familiar with. A small seating area was opposite it, black leather that looked old and used, and then there was his book collection. Hundreds, if not more, covered the two solid bookshelves that arched over a door, stacked floor to ceiling.

Thea grinned, noting he didn’t have any alien romances at a first glance.

“You speak Russian?” she asked, finding an entire row of foreign titles. “And is that… Chinese?”

“Mandarin, among others.” Jax still hadn’t moved from the door, his body held rigid. “You have a lot of time to yourself if you don’t sleep.”

Thea nodded to herself, passing beneath the shelves and into the bathroom that was the size of her entire flat. A large walk-in shower dominated the left side, while a sunken bathtub, twice the size of any she’d ever seen and surrounded in bottles of bubble bath, dominated the right side. She wasn’t sure why she found Jax enjoying a bubble bath so amusing.

“Thea?”

She glanced up, finding Jax in the reflection of the mirror above the sink.

“Your clothes.”

She touched the edge of the shirt. “Oh, they’re – ”

“Take them off.”

The velvet command said in his low, raspy tone washed over her in a burst of heat. She wanted to deny him, just to see what he would do, but the tension in the air was almost violent. It was like the pressure before a storm, the electricity between them seeping beneath her skin and pulling it taut.

With their eyes locked, she tugged, ignoring the pinch in her side as the fabric passed over her head, followed by her bra. An ache developed between her legs, but she refused to remove anything else until he did.

As if reading her thoughts, he lost the shirt, his eyes burning into hers as he waited with the patience of a predator. Her nipples ached beneath his gaze, tightening as she reached for the top of her leggings. She’d never felt so brazen with any of her other lovers, but with Jax, it was different. For a man who showed very little, desire blackened his eyes.

Hooking her thumbs in the fabric, she pulled everything off. It left her entirely naked, and yet she didn’t feel vulnerable. Not when Jax closed the space, hands clamping down on her hips with a possessive grip.

“Beautiful,” he rasped, nose nuzzling a trail down the side of her throat. “And all mine.”

“Not yours,” she groaned, one of his hands sweeping up her stomach to brush the curve of her breast.

Jax chuckled, his chest vibrating against her back. “Yet.”

Thea was about to say that their mating was nothing but an error. The magic caught up in the moment. But he tugged her nipple piercing, the sharp pain edged with pleasure.

“Are you wet for me, little thief?”