Chapter 47 #2
“I’m glad you did. And I’m glad to be here with you now.
My heart beats like this because it sees the man beneath the curse.
You’re everything a good, no, a great man should be.
You make me feel truly safe—for the first time in my life.
” I pressed his hand tighter to my chest. “That’s why I want you in all the ways a woman can. ”
Without warning, he surged forward, his mouth capturing mine with the kind of desperation that only came from someone who’d lived too long without any relief from their suffering.
His kiss was fire and grief and longing. I felt it in every part of me that had been waiting—aching—for him to come alive again. And for the first time, I wasn’t afraid to feel everything.
His arms wrapped around me like I was fragile and vital. I kissed him back like I was breathing him in.
For a long while, we remained together like that, mending a little more with each exhalation. A hard bulge had grown, shifting my attention to the place where our bodies met. Lips still locked, I rocked back and forth on it, thinking only of the pleasure it had brought me just that morning.
Emrys groaned.
My ears registered the popping sensation of a ward of silence. Suddenly, he was holding me firmly in place. I couldn’t have moved an inch even if I’d tried. He gave me a little squeeze that begged me to rise out of the haze of sensation I’d fallen into so we could speak.
“What do you want, Isca?” The wild blue light was back, pacing its cage, hoping for release.
I was so focused on the warmth of his bare skin, the way his thumbs moved in a slow caress where he held me, that it took me too long to answer. “I…”
“I am not unfamiliar with pain, Isca.” His voice, already low, descended further into a commanding rumble. “But waiting to hear what you want is a fresh type of torture. Command me. Now.”
I couldn’t name exactly what I wanted, but I was fairly certain he could fill in the gaps if I led him in the right direction.
“I want you to kiss me again. I want… I want to make you feel the same way I did this morning.”
His eyes went wide, his thumbs stopped caressing, and his throat bobbed up and down in a tense swallow.
Then, all at once, I was sitting next to a blazing star of desire. He wanted me. He wanted me so badly it almost burned my skin.
But still, he held back—not moving an inch.
My voice came out with as much desire as certainty. “Please.”
His grip tightened nearly to the point of pain before he pulled me impossibly closer, capturing my mouth in another kiss.
In the scant space between us, my fingers traced a path up his chest. They climbed until I could feel his heart thundering at the pace of my own. Breaking one hand free, I lifted it to cup his jaw, pulling him deeper into me.
His hand left my lap and moved to grasp the top of my thigh. His palm traced fire down my leg as it slid to my hem, then pulled. Slowly, he gathered my gown, searching for bare flesh.
The cold of the tent rushed in, and goosebumps erupted over my skin.
He noticed. The tent warmed with the subtle hum of his magic. How he could do it without stopping our kiss, without heating his own skin like the heating charm I used for bathing did, I didn’t know. But I was too lost in feeling his rough palm on my exposed thigh to care.
“I wanted to touch you…” I groused.
Reluctantly, he lifted away. “There will be time enough for that later. Now though, I said I would always ask…”
“Please.” My voice trembled. His lust, mixed with my own, was overwhelming. “I don’t want you to stop, Emrys.”
A brilliant flash of blue briefly overtook his gaze. Hello, beast.
His fingers trailed up my thigh until they reached the apex. The moment a callused fingertip grazed my curls, I forgot how to breathe. This morning I’d only experienced this through fabric. Now nothing separated us. Gentle, unrushed, teasing circles warmed my skin.
“Beautiful.” His deep voice cut straight to my core. “Spread your legs, cariad.”
My body happily complied.
I didn’t know what to expect, but I didn’t think he would only carry on with his soft ministrations. Something primal inside me wanted him to sink in further, wanted more. Only the continued thrill of his touch kept me from begging.
Then I felt it—the thing I now suspected he’d been waiting for. That same wet heat that had overtaken me this morning coated his fingers. He treated it as my body’s invitation to move past my curls.
A deep humming sound started in his throat. Almost like a purr.
A rasped reverberation of approval. “So perfect.”
“Not perfect,” I reminded him.
Another growl, this time one of denial, as his bared teeth grazed the skin of my neck.
Oh gods. The circling motion he started sent a shiver through me, and my hips arched in response. His other hand was there, holding me firmly in place, so I couldn’t float away in my ecstasy.
After a moment, he pulled his hand away, and for a second I thought that would be all there was to tonight’s intimacy. But then he brought his fingers to his lips and licked them clean like he was devouring the food of the gods. “I was right. Honey.”
His hand moved back to my still-parted legs.
And then—the most blissful invasion. A single finger coaxed its way inside, pushing past the meager resistance my inexperienced body put up.
I gasped.
“Is this okay, cariad?” His voice was so deep it rumbled my entire body.
“Yes.” I panted, not wanting to lose the feeling. I felt myself tighten then relax in a rhythmic pulse of greed.
“More?” I asked. The single word was partly plea.
A second finger joined the first. And his battle-roughened skin made my body sing.
Just like the first time, there was no haste in his movements. He pushed and pulled, teased and pressed. His mouth swallowed my moans. His arms steadied my quivering legs.
Emrys held me together and tore me asunder with his strength, his heat, his gentle care.
When he teased the bud at the apex of my thighs with his thumb while working my entrance with his fingers, I began to leave this world completely. I felt like I was on a racing horse that was running toward a cliff, except I had sprouted wings.
Strong fingers teased and circled, filling me in the most delicious way. My own hands flexed around the back of his neck, pulling him into me where our mouths joined. Everything within me tensed, drawing tight, preparing to let loose.
“Look at me, cariad.”
I forced air into my lungs and raised my gaze to his. I knew what was coming this time. So I shielded myself, blocking any emotional projection his fingers would unleash from me.
His blue eyes glowed with all the ferocity of his curse, except its attention was directed at my pleasure.
“Lose yourself. Come for me.”
Those words, looking into his eyes—I soared into the heavens and shattered into a million pieces.
Emrys’s hands, still holding me, still caressing, put me back together. The warmth of his breath as he nuzzled into my neck, teeth raking along my skin, brought me back down to earth.
I whispered my original plea again, “I want to make you feel the same way.”
He closed his eyes and groaned.