Chapter 42 #2
My throat tightened. I twisted in his arms to look up at him. “I thought about you too. All the time. I wanted…so much. I always will. Too much, some might say.”
“Never,” he vowed. “You should have all you can ever ask for, all you need.”
“That’s you. Only you.”
Nodding, he cupped water in his hands and poured it over my head, smoothing it down my back. “Stop thinking and just feel.”
I closed my eyes as he washed my hair with sure strokes. Suds bobbed around us.
His hands traveled lower, sliding over my shoulders, slicking across the curve of my arms with a careful, teasing touch. Every motion was unhurried, as if he had all the time in the world to imprint himself in my skin. As a low-burning ache bloomed through my core.
He washed my back, his fingers dipping lower, grazing the curve of my waist, the slope of my hips, then back up again, tormenting me with tenderness.
“Lore,” I breathed, barely able to speak through the shivering heat inside me.
“Hmm?” He nuzzled the side of my neck, brushing his lips against the wet skin there. His smile curled wickedly against my throat.
He stood me in front of him and poured water down my chest, over my thighs, between them. I arched into him, panting, and his growl ripped through the open area.
Parting my thighs, he pressed his mouth there, spreading me to feast, to reach every bit of me.
He lifted one of my legs, draping it over his shoulder as he leaned in, his hands gripping my hips, keeping me steady while his mouth drove me mad.
The flick of his tongue was slow at first, as he tasted, savored.
Until I was gasping his name in broken syllables, jerking my hips against him without shame.
“Lore—” My head dropped back, and he only pulled me tighter, holding me steady while he drove me higher and higher.
Every time I thought I couldn’t take more, he changed angles, shifted pressure, sending flames up my spine. One hand crept from my hip to cup my breast, roll my nipple. I whimpered, clawing for something to hold. His arm. The fabric of my own sanity. But he gave me no time, no space to fall apart.
He moaned against me, the vibration making me cry out, and his tongue flattened, dragged up in a long, slow stroke that shattered the last bit of my composure.
I came apart in his arms, my eyes squeezed shut, my mouth open on a silent scream as pleasure surged through me like fire.
My legs trembled, and he dropped me back into the water, gently spreading my thighs around his and tugging me fully against him.
I was boneless in his arms, and with a satisfied grin, he reached for the soap once more, this time quickly washing himself. Even then, his eyes never left mine, his gaze hot and steady.
The pool had washed away my grief, but I needed more. I needed him.
I expected him to speak, but instead…
…he flitted.
We landed in our bed, my back on soft sheets, him looming over me with moonlight slicing through the tall windows.
The look on his face made my breath catch. Gone was the teasing gleam. In its place I found hunger. A feral need to claim.
He braced his arms on either side of my head, his wet curls dripping onto my skin. I dragged my fingers through them, pulling him closer.
“Eyes on me, Wildfire,” he growled. “I want to watch you fall apart.”
“Already did,” I quipped.
He nibbled on my neck, biting down hard enough I felt it but not hard enough to cause pain. Whatever pinch I might feel, he soothed away with his tongue.
Then his mouth crashed down on mine, and we both moaned. There was nothing slow about our love now, nothing cautious. Just the searing press of lips and teeth and tongues, and the heat of his body covering mine, the soft rasp of sheets under our skin.
His hands were everywhere, tangling in my hair, sliding down my ribcage, gripping my thigh to haul me closer.
One thrust, and he seated himself deep inside me.
“Yes,” I snarled. “More of this. All of you, Lore. Give it to me.”
“Yes, my greedy mate. Take everything I have. It's all yours.”
He started to move, pulling out and driving himself back inside, building our pleasure to a fever pitch. I was dry tinder to his flames, the parched earth to his rain.
I wrapped my legs around him, needing more, needing everything.
We kissed like we were still trying to convince the world we’d earned this, earned each other, and maybe we had. This could be our reward, this fierce, breathless coming together when our future remained much too uncertain.
I held onto him like the world might shatter around us again.
Lore surged into me again, deeper this time, his body pinning mine to the bed with a strength that thrilled and comforted me all at once.
I clung to his back, digging my nails into his damp skin, and he tipped his head back and groaned.
His name slipped from my lips in a broken gasp, over and over, a litany of want and wonder.
He was everywhere. In me. Around me. A force of nature that had somehow decided I was his home.
I pressed my face into his neck, kissed the pulse thundering there. He whispered words in a language I didn’t know. Prayers or promises. I didn’t care. I felt them in my bones.
He rocked harder, faster, every stroke driving me higher until I was shaking, clenching around him with no control, my body winding tighter than a bowstring.
I could feel the edge rising again, feel the unraveling coming like a tide I couldn’t hold back.
Lore shifted, cupping my cheek in one hand while his other arm locked around my lower back, holding me flush against him.
“I’ve got you,” he said, his voice wrecked with need. “Fall for me again, Wildfire. Let me see it happen.”
When he reached between us and stroked my clit, I did.
Pleasure tore through me in a white-hot wave. I cried out, scoring my nails down his spine as I shattered, every nerve alight, every thought erased but one. Lore. Lore. Lore.
He groaned, burying his face against my throat as he followed me into the stars, into forever.
Afterward, as we lay tangled together, his fingers traced lazy patterns on my skin.
The three talismans lay on the nightstand. He’d shifted them from my pocket when I wasn’t paying attention.
“We fuse them tomorrow,” I whispered against his chest.
“Tomorrow.” His arms tightened around me.
I could hear the unspoken truth in his voice.
We only had three days left.