Beauty From Pain

Chapter Twenty-Three

Draco lifted Hermione from the kitchen counter and carried her to his bedroom, only stopping a few times along the way to push her against various pieces of furniture and kiss her. By the time they made it to his bedroom and her feet were firmly on the ground, her face was flushed and her chest was heaving with each breath.

Hermione wanted to explore his room because she believed such a personal space could say a lot about a person, but she was only able to notice soft shades of blues and grays before Draco's lips were pressed to her neck and her eyes fell shut. Her fingers clutched at his shirt and pulled him closer to her, her head tilted back to give him more access to the tender skin beneath her ear. A soft moan slipped past her lips. Reluctantly pulling away from the sinful feeling of his lips, Hermione tried to disguise her erratic breathing by ruffling her hair and kicking off her shoes. Her heart was thundering in her ears.

Draco felt a fierce hunger begin to burn inside him as he watched Hermione and realized the opportunity laid out before him. He had only caught a glimpse of the tattoos he knew were hidden beneath Hermione's clothes, and his fingertips were tingling from the need to strip her down and find them all.

"What?"

Hermione's soft question pulled him from his thoughts, and he smiled. "I am a very lucky man."She blushed and bit her lower lip, an expression that was unintentionally sinful. The way he was looking at her made her toes curl. Before she could talk herself out of it, Hermione grabbed the hem of her top and pulled it up over her head. Discarding the shirt in the floor, she kept her gaze fixed firmly on Draco's chest, staring intently at the buttons as she felt her courage swiftly leave her.

Draco kept his eyes trained on Hermione's face and made sure they didn't dip lower, despite how badly he wished to look. She was bashful and avoiding his gaze, so he stepped forward, settled his hands on her bare hips, and softly kissed her forehead. "We don't have to do this if you don't want to," he said quietly. "I won't be disappointed or make you leave; we can go back to dinner."

"No," she said with a firm shake of her head. "I want this, I'm just... nervous." She met his gaze despite the blush still burning on her cheeks and tried to smile confidently at him. It was a touch shaky, but he mentally applauded her resolve.

"Are you sure?"

She placed her hands against his chest and rose up on her tiptoes to kiss him. "Yes, I'm sure."

Draco's fingers twitched against her hips. "Can I..." He swallowed thickly and licked at his suddenly dry lips. "Can I see your tattoos?"

A sly grin slowly worked its way onto Hermione's lips. "You really like tattoos, don't you?"

"When they're on someone as beautiful as you," he said with a wink.

Hermione laughed and, feeling much more at ease, stripped off her pants and socks. She stood before him in her underwear feeling a bit more comfortable under his heated gaze now that she knew how enthralled he was by the ink on her skin. She was so grateful that Miranda had talked her into wearing her matching blue set of lingerie, it made her feel confident standing before him. "Do you want me to give you a tour," she asked with a cheeky grin.

"No, love. I think I'll take my time, plot my own course, and you can give me a history lesson on each one." Draco brushed her hair back off her shoulders and traced his fingers gently down her arms. His hand wrapped around her left wrist, and he lifted her arm to closer examine her sleeve. He had seen it before during his very first tattoo appointment, but he still said, "Tell me about this one."

The colorful flowers spread from her wrist up to her bicep where they grew smaller and faded into her skin. Soft shades of orange, purple, red, and white merged into a garden on her skin that framed the magical scarring on her inner forearm, the word 'mudblood' still appearing as a freshly carved wound despite the years that had passed since she had received it.