Forged in Steele by Maya Banks

hearing from his own lips that he found her beautiful that was a huge ego booster.
    He began to move faster and harder, his hips slapping the backs of her legs. Her entire body shook with the force of his movements. His gaze connected to hers and his blue eyes glittered in the low light of her bedroom lamp.
    “Come with me this time,” she whispered. “I’m almost there.”
    He groaned loud. “God, I’m there too. Can’t hold on another second.”
    With a muffled shout, he surged deeply within her again and his entire body shook and spasmed against her. His hips twitched powerfully and his arms slid underneath her back, like steel bands around her, holding her tightly to his muscled frame.
    Her orgasm was violent. Shattering around her like glass on concrete. It was almost too intense for her to bear. It bordered on pain and then it was the most pleasurable sensation she’d ever experienced.
    She lost focus. Couldn’t see. She could only feel. And hear the sounds of a satisfied male just inches away, pressed into her body.
    She inhaled sharply, savoring the scent of sex and musk and male sweat. Then she kissed and licked his shoulder and then nibbled her way to his neck. He tasted wonderful. Everything about him was sexy. His scent, his taste and the way he felt against her. Inside her.
    He was still pulsing within her, his hips still moving, slower than before, but each movement over her sensitized tissues elicited a tiny spasm that quivered through her belly.
    He found her mouth again and kissed her roughly, not as gently as before. His breath was ragged and each breath blew hotly into her mouth.
    He let out one last groan and then went still inside her. His hips were pressed solidly to hers, arms wrapped around her, holding her against him. He lowered his forehead to rest on hers and nibbled delicately at the corner of her mouth before peppering kisses over the bow of her lips.
    “Fantasy had nothing on the real thing,” he said in a lazy drawl.
    He sounded like a completely satisfied male. His eyes gleamed in triumph. Then he grimaced and regret shadowed those formerly satisfied eyes.
    “Need to get rid of the condom,” he said in a low voice. “Don’t move. I’ll be right back.”
    As if she were going anywhere.
    She lay sprawled on the bed, her entire body humming in satisfaction. She was deliciously drowsy but she didn’t want to fall asleep because then her night would be over. They still had a few hours yet and she wanted to make the most of them.
    She watched as Steele rose from the bed, enjoying the view of such a perfect male specimen in the nude. His muscles rippled as he turned to dispose of the condom. He was still hard, even after his release. And so beautiful he made her teeth ache.
    When he turned farther, she caught a glimpse of the tattoo on his left shoulder. She hadn’t noticed it before. She’d been too focused on everything else. Now, curious, she leaned forward, straining to see in the dim light.
    He turned back after tossing the condom and cocked his head to the side.
    “What’s up?”
    “Your tattoo,” she said in a low voice. “I was looking at it. Didn’t know you had one.”
    He paused but then nodded. “Yeah.”
    When he didn’t say anything further, she sat up, trying to get a better look.
    “Can I see?”
    He sat on the edge of the bed and then turned so she’d get a better view.
    She stared in earnest, absorbing the intricate pattern. A dove with wings outstretched as if landing, talons extended and curled around a blazing arrow. Clutched in the beak was a long-stemmed rose, and a single teardrop was falling from the eye of the dove.
    Below the blazing arrow were two words.
Never forget.
    She reached her finger out to trace the edges of the design. There was something remarkably sad and tragic about the tattoo. A knot formed in her throat and she glanced up to check his reaction.
    “What does it mean?”
    He was quiet for a long moment, his gaze fixed on a distant