31. Malachi
Tears glistened in Ciara’s hopeful eyes. I drew her into my arms and kissed her forehead letting my lips linger then slide to the corner of her eyes to kiss the salty liquid seeping from them.
“Don’t cry,” I whispered. “Every tear you shed is like a blade to my heart.”
“But what if they’re right?” She lifted her chin. “What if we’ve wasted years of happiness together as fated mates because we were too dumb to realize?”
“One,” I said. “We’re not dumb.” I rubbed my lips over the curve of her jaw. “Two we’ve been happy together for years. Being your friend has been an honor and a privilege. No one makes me smile the way you do. No one makes me laugh the way you do. You light up my life, Ciara. You always have and you always will.”
I lowered my lips to her mouth and caught her soft gasp. She clung to me as I kissed her tenderly reinforcing with my lips the words I’d poured from my heart. I believed every word I said. She’d made me happy. Happier than any woman would ever make me simply by being my friend and if now we experienced the added benefits of sexual pleasure with each other then that was a bonus.
Breaking the kiss I never wanted to end, I said, “I love you no matter what, whether you’re truly my fated mate.”
She sobbed and then buried her head into my chest. Her hands clung to me as if I’d leave her.
“I’ll never leave you,” I whispered. “Never stop loving you.”
“Malachi.” She hiccupped. “Kiss me. Love me.”
“With pleasure.” I brushed my lips over the sensitive curve of her shoulder, reveling in the shivers dancing over her body. Higher up her neck I let them wander until I found the soft lobe of her ear and suckled it into my mouth.
“I love you. Only you,” she said lifting her face. “I want you to be my fated mate more than anything in the world.”
“Then we will be.”
She smiled. “So now we’re making up the rules?”
“You and me together can do anything.” I caught her face between my palms. “Besides, we can rewrite the rules in new books if we want to.”
She laughed huskily then stood on her tiptoes to meet me in another kiss. This one wasn’t sweet. This kiss was full of the passion we’d found. The desire we’d a short time ago let come to light. Her mouth drifted over mine swallowing my groans of appreciation for the woman she was, for the princess who tried her best to help everyone but herself. This time though it was all about her and I’d show her how much she meant to me.
I found the bottom of her sweatshirt and slid my hands beneath it over the silky soft skin of her stomach and higher to the swell of her breast. Goose bumps rippled over the soft curves as my fingers stroked and teased until I found the hard tip of her nipple. She moaned into my mouth as I brushed over the peak. And when I squeezed the tip between my thumb and forefinger, she arched into me pressing her breast into my palm. I needed more of her like this. My other hand joined the first under her sweatshirt teasing and stroking her breasts until her kiss turned erratic and she wrenched her head away.
“Take it off,” she demanded.
I peered over my shoulder. “Someone might see you and I don’t want anyone to see you but me. You’re mine, Ciara as I am yours.”
Her eyes twinkled with mischief and then her powers exploded in a sudden cloud of darkness covering the both of us.
“There, now no one will see either of us.” She grinned.
“Dia, did I tell you how much I love you?”
“Aye but tell me again.”
“I love you more than anything in this world and the Summer Court.”
“Make love to me?”
“You never have to ask me for that. I’ll gladly make love to you whenever and wherever you want me to.”
I drew the sweatshirt over her head and tossed it on the floor. Her rosy-tipped breasts begged me to suck on them and so I did. First one tight nipple then the other until they were glistening with my saliva and Ciara was moaning and clutching at my hair.
“Now,” she said fumbling for the zipper on my pants.
She wrenched it down and then wrapped her hand around my hard cock. Her palm was like sweet heaven, and I thrust into the soft grip making my legs shake with need for her and only her. Regaining some of my senses, I drew her skirt up her legs until my hand brushed her bare thigh. Dia, I loved skirts and dresses. In particular Ciara in them. She whimpered as my fingers teased the tender flesh of her inner thigh before finding her slick core.
“So wet for me.”
“Only you,” she whispered.
“Only me,” I agreed.
“And this is only for me.” She tightened her grip on my cock and drew me closer toward her dripping entrance.
“Always and forever.”
She rubbed the tip over her eager flesh. I lifted her leg exposing the treasure that was all mine. Every piece of Ciara was mine to treasure. She’d offered me everything she was, and I’d hold her treasure deep in my heart until the day I died even if the day would be sooner than either of us wanted. But I wouldn’t let those dark thoughts into this magical moment.
My power flared in my hands as I thrust into her, sealing us together as the way we should always be. She shuddered at the instant connection between us. Perhaps we were fated mates. I doubted this sensation happened with all sexual encounters. I wouldn’t know since she was my first and last. My everything.
I caught her hips in my hands and lifted her higher. She wrapped her legs around my waist, and I stepped forward until her back met the wall of the library. Her hands wrapped around my neck then her lips slammed into mine. We kissed frantically as I pumped my hips into her slick core. Her inner muscles tightened and stroked my cock with each long, deep thrust until we were both quivering. Both of us were poised for the explosion of pleasure between us.
My power urged me to mark her. To seal us together then no one else could have her. My hand lifted to her chest, but I couldn’t do it when… groaning I shifted my hand higher, so it curved around the soft skin of her delicate neck. She shuddered, and I drew back a fraction to see the blinding lust raging in her eyes. I watched her face as I held her against the wall. As I pumped my hips harder into her, making her mine. Her body drew tight. Fingers clamped around her neck. Her legs squeezed my hips. There was no better sensation than right here with Ciara watching her pleasure peak and come undone.
With the next thrust, I tightened my hold on her neck, and she exploded into the freefall of her orgasm. The tight clenching of her inner muscles almost made me topple over the edge with her, but I kept pumping into her, kept the magic of this moment alive for Ciara as long as possible until my balls tightened, and my cock strained for release.
“Mine,” she whispered.
That one word made me come undone. I exploded deep inside her, shuddering with the force of my orgasm. Each jerk of my cock sent pleasure so acute to every inch of my body that I didn’t want it to end.
Voices echoed down the stairs. Loud voices.
“Shite.” I yanked out of Ciara, dropped a quick kiss on her lips then gathered up her discarded sweatshirt.
“Ciara, Malachi?” Pepper’s loud voice echoed through the library.
They were getting closer, but Ciara’s shadows still engulfed us. I fixed my clothing, then watched Ciara fix her clothing. Pepper and Lorcan stood at the end of the aisle.
“We left them down here,” Pepper said.
“I don’t see them,” Lorcan said. “They must have left.”
Ciara laughed making Lorcan and Pepper peer down the aisle.
“She must be using her shadows,” Lorcan said. “Come on out, you can’t hide forever.”
“I can if I want to,” Ciara said.
“Well, if you don’t want to hear about the potion Pepper found,” Lorcan drawled.
“What potion?” Ciara dissolved the shadows.
Their gazes roamed over our rumpled clothes, Lorcan’s eyebrows lifted while Pepper grinned.
“Did you two have sex?” Lorcan asked.
“So, what if we did?” Ciara placed her hands on her hips.
Pepper cackled. “Oh, you’re as bad as Lorcan. You two have to be fated mates.”
“What?” Lorcan asked.
“Don’t you see it?” Pepper asked.
Lorcan’s brows twitched down, then rose again. “You might be right.”
“I’m always right,” Pepper said.
“What’s the potion?” I asked because as much as I wanted Ciara to be my fated mate, we still had the problem with the spring to face.