-21-

She had to be mindful when she'd get up before Blackwall, if he was still asleep. Unlike her, who could sleep through almost anything, he'd startle at the slightest noise.

But that morning Ellana was less than successful at keeping quiet, due to her brush slipping through her fingers like butter and falling to the floor with a clunk that seemed to resonate throughout the large room. She cursed under her breath the moment it hit the floor, gaze darting over to Blackwall, who started shifting around.

"My lady?" his groggy voice floated over to her.

She sighed, reaching down to pick up the brush and heading over to his side of the bed. "It's fine, vhenan. I just dropped something. You can go back to sleep."

He propped himself up by the elbow, rubbing the sleep away from his eyes with the back of his hand. "It's alright. Should get up, anyway."

"Helping Cullen with drills this morning?" she asked as she sat herself down on the edge of the bed by his legs.

"For a few hours," he replied, now fully sitting up.

Ellana started running her brush through her hair, grimacing as it easily got stuck in a tangle. She tugged at the brush, freeing it from her unruly hair, only to once again lose her grip on it, sighing again as it struck the bed.

Blackwall picked it up, having landed closer to him. Instead of handing the brush back to her, he gestured up to her hair with it and asked, "May I?"

A warm feeling spread through her, as it did each time he offered to do such an intimate act. "Please."

She scooted herself backward, positioning herself with her back to him. She heard further rustling and shifting of sheets behind her as he presumably moved to better position himself behind her. A hand came to rest on her waist, the warmth seeping through the thin material of her dressing gown. His hand stayed there as he started to brush her hair.

There was something she found soothing about having her hair brushed by another. It had been that way when she and her sister would brush and braid each other's hair (when Ellana's hair had been down past her shoulders) and it was that way with him. His motions were unhurried, gentle, mindful of tangles. She had been surprised the first time he had done it for her, the ease he seemed to have with brushing another's hair. Then he told her about how he had brushed his sister Liddy's hair many a time. He had tried to hide the touch of sadness when mentioning Liddy, but Ellana had still caught it. And Creators knew she understood that sadness all too well.

Once he got through the tangles, Blackwall finished up quickly, handing the brush back to her.

She turned to properly face him as she accepted the brush from his out-stretched hand.

"Thank you." She leaned in to give him a soft kiss, a faint, quick brush of her lips against his, but Blackwall was intent on not having her break away so soon, pulling her closer with the hand at her waist, the other smoothing back the hair he had already brushed.

Despite knowing she had to get dressed to get a head start on the endless list of things she had to do that day, she still fell into his kiss, wrapping an arm across his shoulders, indulging in the moment.

Eventually, they broke the kiss, but before she could get off the bed, he went back to kissing her, this time on her jaw, then tracing the underside, traveling to her neck, one of the more sensitive parts of her body. Her eyes slipped closed, reveling in the way he slowly trailed kisses down her neck, nose nuzzling the skin with each kiss. She let out a soft moan as he shifted aside the top of her dressing gown to gently bite down on the juncture of her neck and collarbone, soothing the bite with a lave of his tongue before journeying back up.

It felt so good. With his mouth, his tongue, his soft beard. And she knew if he kept up at the rate he was going, there was no chance either of them would be going downstairs anytime soon.

She tugged at the ends of his hair to get him to pull up. "I have to get ready, vhenan," she said, gently but firmly, summoning all the willpower she had not to give in to those blue eyes of his pulsing with barely restrained desire (Creators, that she could inspire such passion, such desire in him; it was still unbelievable at times).

Seemingly sensing she was determined to maintain her resolve, he placed one final kiss right where the pulse of her neck was. "Something for my lady to think about, then." He punctuated the statement with a slight nip just below the spot he had kissed. "For later tonight," he murmured, like a promise, before pulling away.

It took everything she had to get up off the bed, to ignore the dull throb between her legs, and not climb into his lap instead, surrender herself to more of his kisses, his touches, his cock inside her. But she was more determined than ever to finish her tasks and meetings as soon as she could, so they could spend the rest of the time finishing what Blackwall started.