Read Hers To Cherish (Verdantia Book 3) for Free Online

Steffania watched surreptitiously. She shook her head to clear the vision a bare Ramsey left seared on her retinas. She had thought the man sexy when fully clothed but the erotic reality of his bare form made her fight to conceal her reaction. Her hands longed to trace the fine line of dark hair in the center of his abdomen arrowing down to the thick, male organ nested between the hard muscles of his thighs. She imagined the weighty fullness of his testicles rolling and filling her palm as she drew his scrotum away from the base of his cock. The palms of her hands itched to touch him, caress him – bring that organ to full hardness and see the fulfillment of what it promised quiescent. She rubbed her hands up and down her upper thighs to dilute the phantom sensations and took a deep breath to steady herself.
    Sitting on the side of the tub, Ram swung his feet over and sank slowly into the warm water, leaning against the side with his eyes closed. “By the gods, that’s good. Come, Steffania. I need my back washed.”
    Twisting her hair up on the top of her head and securing it with a tie, she daintily stepped into the water and slid toward Ram. “ Dominus ,” she whispered, swallowing the hard lump in her throat. If he made any move toward her, she’d surrender to whatever he wanted – for Verdantia. Right, Rickard, lie to yourself some more. “Lean forward.”
    She poured liquid soap onto a soft sponge and began at the nape of his neck, smoot hing the foaming soap over rock-hard trapezius, deltoid and rhomboid muscles – really the man could be an anatomy lesson if she could remember all the different muscle groups.
    “How does someone get muscles like these?” Steffania wasn’t aware she had voiced her thoughts aloud.
    “By continually getting out of tight places,” Ram muttered. He reached back and stilled her hand, then turned to face her, removing the sponge from her hand. “Turn.” He made a circling gesture.
    Crossing her arms over her chest, she turned her back to him. A gentle hand smoothed the foaming soap up her neck and across her shoulders then down between her shoulder blades in a firm massaging motion. Steffania sank further and further into a world that contained only sensation.
    “Lean back.”
    She relaxed into Ramsey’s hard chest. Her head fell back on his shoulder. His hand spread the slippery foam across the top of her collarbones then down to where the waterline met her breasts. Without conscious volition, she arched into his touch, inviting his hand to explore further. A gentle caress answered her body’s invitation; Ram’s hand cupped her breast, thumbing her nipple. The sensation streaking to her clit shattered her reverie. She sat up abruptly. Her buttocks slid back into the vee made by his thighs and cradled a rock hard erection. She scooted forward with a soft gasp, but an iron arm wrapped her waist.
    “Not so fast, sweetheart.”
    Steffania tried desperately to contain her trembling, to slow her racing heart. “What do you want?”
    Ram’s low, throaty laugh did nothing to soothe her apprehension. Releasing her, he stood in a small cascade of water. “Wash the rest of me.”
    Steffania closed her eyes . Verdantia, remember, Rickard – Verdantia. She composed herself, then stood and turned to face him. Trying to avoid his mesmerizing gaze, she picked up the sponge and washed the rest of him, starting at his broad collarbones and ending where the water lapped his heavily muscled thighs. Then she addressed what hung between his thighs. Ram stood in place and watched her in a silence broken only by his breathing. His deep, even breaths grew faster and heavier as her soapy hand dwelt on the most glorious cock she’d ever seen. Thrusting up from a nest of dark, curling hair, the rose-pink flesh taunted her with its heft and weight. The slide of it through her soapy fist made her lower parts weep with envy. The petals of flesh between her legs swelled in