Chapter 31 #3
And I wanted this to be about both of us. Not just me.
Maybe it was everything that had happened and what I could soon face.
Maybe it was the heat of his mouth against me.
It could’ve simply been the fact that I needed him— needed to remind both of us that no matter how tonight ended, we were alive, we were here, together. And nothing could ever change that.
All of those reasons could have fueled my actions. Given me the strength to take control of my desires, the situation, and of Casteel—and prove that I could handle him at his calmest and at his wildest, his most loving and his most indecent.
I pushed off the wall, clasping the back of his neck.
I wasn’t sure if I just surprised him or if I had overpowered him.
It didn’t matter. Curling my hand around the back of his neck, I urged him to stand, bringing his mouth to mine.
I tasted him on my lips. I tasted me and us.
Slipping my hands into his breeches, I undid them as I walked him backward, helping him get rid of them.
When his legs hit the bed, I pushed him.
Casteel sat, his brows lifting as he stared up at me. “Poppy,” he breathed.
Placing my hands on his shoulders, I planted my knees on either side of his thighs. “I want you, Casteel.”
He shuddered. “You have me. You will always have me.”
And I did have him as he shifted under me. I lowered myself onto him, the air seizing in my throat as we became one.
Pulse fluttering, I curled my arm around his neck, sinking my fingers into his hair as I dropped my forehead to his, clutching his arm with my other hand.
I began to move, rocking against him slowly.
I gasped as heat filled my chest and settled between my thighs in a tight, hot ache.
My breath touched his lips. “Prove it,” I ordered. “Prove that you’re mine.”
There wasn’t even a moment of hesitation.
His mouth crashed onto mine, and the kiss was stunning in its intensity, stealing my breath.
My entire body tensed as I lifted myself and brought my body back down, drinking as deeply from his lips as he did from mine.
The fine, rough hairs on his chest teased the aching tips of my breasts as I rode him.
“Yours.” Stark need shone through the slits of his eyes. “Now. Forever. Always.”
My fingers tightened around his hair. With each roll of my hips, he reached that spot inside me, the one that sent pleasure bounding through every limb.
I moved faster, moaning as I angled my body toward his.
I shuddered, letting go of his arm and dragging my hand over his chest. A wildness entered my veins as the friction of the hard length of him ignited a fire.
I kissed him greedily, sucking on his lip, his tongue.
His hands gripped my hips as he lifted his, meeting my thrusts.
“Should have known,” he said, his breath coming in shorter, faster pants. “You’d love doing it like this.”
“I love…I just love doing it,” I whispered. “With you.”
His hands slid to my rear, cupping it as he rocked me harder against him. “Yeah, you do.” He squeezed, holding me tightly against him until there wasn’t a breath of space between us. “Promise me.”
All the throbbing tension in me curled tightly. I tried to lift myself but he held me in place. “Anything,” I rasped, my nails digging into his skin. “Anything, Cas.”
“If Ian is what you fear and giving him peace is something you cannot safely carry out…” he said, his words causing my already stuttering heart to skip.
He dragged his hand up my back, fisting his fingers in my hair.
He tugged my head to his. “Promise me that if it puts you at risk, you won’t attempt it.
That you will wait until it’s safe. Promise me that. ”
The words spilled from me. “I promise.”
Casteel moved at once, lifting me from his lap and onto my belly. Before I had a chance to take a breath, he thrust deeply into me. My back arched as I kicked my head back, his name a hoarse shout on my lips. He rolled into me, grinding his hips against my rear.
I cried out, and a word snuck out, a demand that scalded my cheeks. “Harder.”
“Harder?”
“Yes.” I curled my upper body around, reaching back and clasping his hips. “Please.”
“Fuck,” he growled, and I felt him jerk deep inside me. “I love you.”
There was no chance to tell him the same. He forced an arm under me, curling it just below my breasts. His chest came down on my back, his weight supported by the arm propped by my head. Then he gave me what I wanted, thrusting into me hard .
Casteel was relentless, his body pounding against mine.
We became twin flames, burning bright and uncontrollable, lost to the fire.
It was a welcomed madness, the frenzy in our blood and our bodies, and it went beyond sex and finding pleasure.
It was all about us taking and giving from one another, falling and letting go together, being swept away in trembling waves of rippling pleasure.
But when the tremors subsided and Casteel eased us onto our sides, my promise to him returned like a vengeful ghost, there to warn me that I might not be able to keep it.
Casteel and I dressed as the last traces of sunlight slipped over the floor, both of us donning the extra black tunics I’d packed. I did manage to eat some of the roasted chicken that had been delivered to the room, and we were able to freshen up. I took my time smoothing my hair into a braid.
Vonetta arrived shortly after, her striking features tense. “They’re here.”