Grace felt Julian's presence. Turning around, she saw him outside the shower, completely naked.
Her gaze feasted on every inch of that golden body, but it was his warm, charming smile that absolutely stole her heart and made her breathless.
Without a word, he stepped inside.
'You know,' he said with a casualness that astounded her. 'I found something interesting this morning.'
She watched the water fall over him, slicking his hair back until it fell in short, wet ringlets about his face.
'Did you?' she asked, resisting her impulse to reach up and capture one of those locks between her fingertips. Or better yet, her teeth.
'Mmm,' he said, running his hand up the long cord of the shower until he took the shower head from its cradle. He turned the dial to a soft massage. 'Turn around.'
Grace hesitated before she obeyed.
Julian ran his gaze over her sleek, wet back. In all his life, he'd never seen a woman more inviting.
She was everything he'd ever dreamed of having and yet he dared not hope. Dared not dream.
He lowered his gaze down her voluptuous curves. Her legs were slightly parted as she stood. An image of spreading them wider and plunging himself into her tore through him.
Struggling to breathe, he aimed the shower head at her shoulders.
'That feels so good,' she whispered.
Julian couldn't speak. He clenched his jaw to keep himself from yielding to his body's ravenous demand for hers. His need to touch her was so profound that it made a mockery of the one he felt for food and water while trapped in the book.
Grace turned to him, her face glowing. She reached around him and picked up the washcloth and soaped it. Julian didn't move as she bathed him. Her hands slid over his chest and abdomen, firing his hunger for her even more.
He held his breath in eager anticipation as her hand moved lower and lower.
Grace bit her lip as she touched the rigid muscles of his stomach. She looked up to watch Julian watch her. His eyes were half-closed, and he appeared to be savoring every stroke of her hands on his skin.
Wanting to please him, she ran the cloth over the coffee-colored curls at the center of his body. He sucked his breath in sharply as she reached between his legs to cup him gently in her hand. She smiled again as she felt a shudder run through him.
The look of pleasure on his face delighted her. Her heart pounding, she moved her hand up to gently massage his swollen shaft.
She heard the shower head hit the side of the tub an instant before he enveloped her in his arms and buried his lips against her neck.
Grace trembled from the sensations as their wet bodies entwined. The love she felt for him swelled through her, begging for a miracle that would let them have a life together.
In that instant, she wished she could feel him inside her. Feel him take possession of her body the way he had her heart.
As his lips tortured her with pleasure, he brought his thigh up between her legs. The tiny hairs on his leg teased her in a way that melted her will.
Feverishly, Grace rubbed herself against his wet, sleek thigh, relishing the feel of his strong muscles contracting between her legs as he continued to suckle her throat. Oh, how she loved this man. How she longed to hear him tell her that she meant as much to him as he did to her.
He ran his hands over her back, then her front.
His gaze scorched her as he lowered her to the bottom of the tub.
'What are you…' Her words ended in a gasp as he plunged his tongue into her ear.
She felt his arm flex as he reached for the shower head and brought it back to pummel her body with its pulsating heat. He moved it in slow, sensuous circles over her breasts, her stomach. On fire from the stimulation of the water and his body, she struggled to breathe.
Julian shook all over in desperate need. He wanted to please her in a way he'd never wanted to please anyone. He longed to see her writhing beneath him. Hear her screaming out her release.
Nudging her thighs farther apart, he moved the shower head to spray between her legs.
Grace choked as an indescribable pleasure ripped through her. 'Julian?' she gasped as her body quivered from the feel of his fingers inside her, filling her, teasing her while the water heightened his moves.
Never, never had she experienced anything like it. He rotated his wrist, circling the pulsating water around her until she couldn't stand it.
When her climax came a second later, she screamed from it.
Julian smiled while he held his body rigidly still to keep from filling her. Even so, he wasn't through with her. He would never be through with her.
With his hands, his tongue, and the shower, he brought her to climax five more times.
'Please, Julian,' she begged after the last one. 'Have mercy. I can't take any more.'
Deciding he had tortured the two of them enough, Julian reached behind him and turned off the water.
Grace couldn't move. Any sensation, no matter how small, rocked her. She watched him stand up between her legs, staring at her with a hint of a smile on his face.
'You've killed me,' she breathed. 'Now you have to hide the body.'
He laughed at that. He stepped out of the tub, then reached over and picked her up.
She savored the feel of his bare skin against hers as he carried her to the bed, then dried her off with the towel. Slowly, carefully, he used the terry cloth in a way she was sure no one had ever meant for terry cloth to be used. He slid it sensuously over her arms, her breasts, then down her stomach in slow, torturous swirls.
'Open your legs for me, Grace.'
Her will gone, she obeyed.
Grace moaned at the feel of the cloth stroking the tender, throbbing flesh between her thighs. Then the cloth was gone, replaced by his fingers.
'Julian, please. I don't think I can do it again.'
He didn't listen. Neither did her body. To her amazement, she came again.
Julian leaned over her then and whispered in her ear, 'I could make you do that all night.'
She looked up into his eyes, and it was then she realized the full extent of his curse. His body was still fully erect, his brow covered in sweat.
How could he stand to watch her climax again and again, knowing he, himself, couldn't?
Her only thought her love for him, she sat up and kissed him.
Julian pulled away violently. He sank to the floor, writhing as if he were being beaten.
Terrified of what she'd done, Grace slid off the bed. 'I'm sorry,' she said, reaching out to him. 'I forgot.'
He whirled on her then, his eyes that strange, horrible dark color.
Julian trembled as he fought his madness down. It was the fear in her face that finally succeeded in calming him.
He moved away from her as if she were poisonous.
Grace watched as he used the steps to her bed to push himself to his feet.
'It's getting worse,' he said, his voice shaky.
Grace couldn't speak. She couldn't stand seeing him in pain. And she hated herself for pushing him over the edge.
Without looking back at her, Julian gathered his clothes and left the room.
It was several heartbeats before Grace could move again. When she finally found the ability to stand, she went to dress. She opened the top drawer and her eyes fell to the box that contained the handcuffs.
How many more days would they have before she lost him forever?
Chapter 14
The next few days were the best of Grace's life. Once she got used to Julian's rule of no kissing and hot,
