Chapter 36 #2
The truth flows through our merge. So does the sexual thrill. The heat simmering between us now has nothing to do with the desert sun.
I remain silent, unwilling to verbally admit that Kin helped Rose and me spy on Sterling when he trained with Rivlan.
Sterling’s eyes darken as they hold mine. A new tension permeates the air. “You were!” He tsks.
I sip from my water flask, wetting my dry throat while feigning nonchalance. “I was curious about your training methods. That’s all.”
“Curious, hmm, Duchess?” The gold flecks in his irises turn molten. “You like watching me, do you?”
Blood rises to my cheeks. “Maybe.”
He edges closer. “I like watching you too.” His heated gaze travels down my body, unhurried and appreciative. “Take off your clothes.”
The command is so direct, so Sterling, that I laugh even as desire coils in my belly. “Here? In the open desert?”
He gestures to the expansive emptiness around us. “The dragons are hunting. No one else is around.” His fingers tug at the laces of my training shirt. “Unless you’re feeling shy?”
I cover his hands with mine. “Hardly. I just wasn’t planning on getting sand in…unfortunate places.”
“The blanket’s plenty big. But if you’d rather do more training—”
“No.” I drop my hands from his so he can work on the laces. “No more training. I want you.”
Less than ten seconds later, Sterling yanks my shirt off. He strips his own off next, with the rest of our clothing quickly following suit.
The sight of all that naked, sweat-glistened skin encasing muscles sculpted from years of training temporarily collapses my lungs.
I trace a faint scar on his chest. “I’ve missed you. Just the two of us, training together, spending time together. Life has been chaotic lately.”
“Chaotic is an understatement.” He brushes a windswept strand of hair from my face. “But do me a favor?”
“Anything.”
“Forget about everything outside of us, right here and right now.” He hooks two fingers under my chin, tilting it up so my eyes are on his. “Can you do that for me?”
“Yes.” I barely breathe the word before his lips crash onto mine.
I don’t care that we’re in the middle of a desert, or that our days might be numbered, or that thousands of responsibilities vie for attention once we return to the palace.
In this moment, only the feel of Sterling’s arms around me and the sensation of his tongue stroking mine matters.
The delicious sensation of bare flesh touching bare flesh.
He groans and kisses me senseless, stoking a stream of desire and need within me.
He pulls me down beside him so that our bodies touch along with our magic and minds. The contrast of his coolness against my heated skin sends delicious shivers prancing down my spine.
“I’ve wanted you all day,” Sterling murmurs against my neck, his lips tracing a path that has me arching against him. “Watching you throw fire, commanding the dragons…the fierce, focused way you react. It drives me wild.”
“Mmm.” Coherent thought slips away as his hand finds exactly the right spot and slips between my thighs. “In a good way?”
“In the best way.” His caresses tease me…light where I want pressure, slow when I crave quick.
I retaliate by using my knowledge of his body, nibbling the sensitive spot below his ear and scraping my nails over his scalp. Stroking the delicate flesh at the crease of his thigh.
We’ve played this game before, each trying to distract the other first. By now, we understand our respective desires, but the chilled fingers rippling over my center of need is new, startling a low moan from me.
Today, I forfeit the game, surrendering myself to his skillful touch and the heat of his mouth. He waits until I’m writhing before finally slipping inside me. Our bodies join with practiced ease, like two halves coming together to form a whole.
I need to bite my lip to keep from crying out. “Sterling.”
“I love watching your face when I fuck you.” Strain crackles Sterling’s voice. “The way you can’t hide anything you’re feeling. And now it’s indescribable, how I can experience everything you experience too. How much you love the way I fill you up, and how right we feel together.”
He shares every sensation, just as I share his, all of them bundled together, joining, tangling, strengthening. The overwhelming feelings are too much for me to put into words.
Instead, I tug him closer as we move in time on the blanket, the desert around us forgotten.
Twisting my hips, I surprise him by pushing him over so I can straddle his hips.
He wants to watch? I’ll give him a good view of more than just my face.
“Yes, love. Just like that.” Sterling’s eyes roll up in his head as I rock my hips. His hands encircle my thighs, lifting me up and then yanking me down so that his erection slides inside me.
“Agreed.” I tremble, taking a moment to savor the sensation.
Rotating my hips, I revel in the fullness, in the way his hard flesh presses into my softness.
How his breathing becomes ragged each time I lift and lower myself.
The way the angle provides delicious pressure to my sensitive bundle of nerves.
At this rate, neither one of us will last long. I already feel the tension mounting, leading me closer to the cliff. Still, I hang on as long as I can to this little sliver of paradise. I never want this glorious handful of moments to end.
He plunges into me as I ride him, bucking his hips up to meet me while his hands release my thighs to splay around my waist. As I fight the building pleasure, a whimper escapes me.
Sterling shudders beneath me, changing the pace from steady to frenzied. “Come with me, love.”
That soft command is all it takes.
I come apart, falling over the edge as my body shakes with my release.
Our magic rises with our pleasure. Sparks literally fly where our skin touches, a miniature storm of fire and water that cocoons us in a haze of steam and light.
Sterling groans through his own climax before collapsing beside me.
We both pant, dazed and replete while our magical connection slowly fades.
He leans over and strokes my face, planting lazy, drugging kisses against my mouth.
Seconds, or minutes, or maybe half an hour passes before we speak.
I reach blindly for the water flask. “Gotta do more of this.”
Sterling’s laugh vibrates into me where our bodies still touch. “You’ll get no argument from me. Every minute of every day would never be enough.”
For a while, we lie here, the repressive heat becoming more bearable as the sun begins its descent.
I trace idle patterns on Sterling’s chest, pondering the power I felt during our training. “You’re really something, you know that? Not many people can stand up to a dragon, let alone more than one. Your magic has always been incredibly strong, but now? It’s unprecedented.”
“I’ve noticed the change. Suddenly, more magic is available to me. More water too. I feel like I can take on anything and anyone.” A quiver runs through him. “Except for the Guardian. Though Zeru’s faction could always name a new champion, the same way Rivlan did with me.”
The memory of our encounter with the Guardian and the way he so easily threw us out of the portal hangs between us.
I snuggle closer to Sterling, as if I can somehow shield him with my body. “Well, like I said, you’ve gotten stronger. And you won’t be alone.”
“Won’t I?” His eyes find mine, questioning. “If this is truly to be a Champions Match—”
“I don’t care what the gods decree. I’m not letting you face this alone.”
At first, he looks like he might argue. Then his expression softens, and he plants a kiss on my forehead. “Always the rebel queen.”
“Always.” A chill runs through me despite the desert heat.
The odds feel impossibly stacked against us. Then again, they always have been.