Chapter 36 Monroe #2
With the little strength I have, I grip Briar’s collar.
His lavender brows lift in surprise, mouth slack as I guide him to mine.
Rain pounds the ground, soaking our clothes, slipping between our tangled tongues and cracked lips.
It’s not the kiss of ballads and fairy tales.
It’s not steeped in ignited passion or strong enough to break a curse.
It’s the jagged edges of two broken shards melding together.
Not fixed. Not shiny. Not whole.
But ours.
With each delicate brush of our lips, the tingling tapers and tapers until it buzzes with the pelting rain along my flesh.
The air turns sharp and sweet. I shift in his lap, his jeans rubbing deliciously against me.
It feels incredible but it’s not enough.
I wish I had the energy to rip off all our clothes and get some real friction.
Something twitches against my hip, and Briar groans. If my mouth weren’t so dry, it’d be watering.
“Please,” I whimper against the corner of Briar’s mouth, rubbing my thighs together.
His body trembles and he sucks in a breath.
“Everything’s going to be okay.” His chest heaves and he takes my hand in his, thumbing the droplets scattered across my skin. “It’s your solstice instincts kicking in.”
No. It’s so much more than that.
I swallow back the thought, and Briar sweeps my rain-soaked hair away from my face, his hand grazing my cheek and the side of my throat. “You need to get back to the Center.”
That’s the last thing I want right now.
“No.” My breaths come in shallow pants. My spine zips with pain as I straighten. “I need to come.”
Briar’s pupils dilate, glued to the bits of clothes soaked against my body. He swallows audibly, eyes darting away from me. “There are inhibitors. Things that can help you—ones listed in the pamphlet. The ones you chose on the questionnaire.”
I hook my knuckle under his chin and lift his gaze until our noses touch. “Fuck the questionnaire.”
His face is pained. “You don’t mean that.”
“Yes, I do.” I don’t think I’ve ever meant something more.
Nerves flit through the bond. He doesn’t believe me, but how could he when I rejected him and refused to let him in? I need to show him how serious I am.
Parting my knees, I guide his shaking hand between my legs. At the delicious sensation of his fingers tracing my underwear, I kiss the base of his throat and drag my tongue along the vines there, tasting every inked marking as if it were crucial to my survival. “I mean it more than you know.”
“Monroe…” he warns, but it comes out strained. “This is your body craving its magic.”
Wrong. The only thing I’m craving is him.
With each droplet of rain hitting my skin, another fantasy sinks in, curling low and deep, along with his two fingers I guide inside myself.
There are hundreds of ways I’ve imagined us together, and all of them pale in comparison to reality.
His eyes on mine. His thumb whispering across my clit.
The rumble of his throat beneath my lips.
“Please, Briar,” I press a kiss to his warm flesh and grind myself against his hand. “I need you.”
For Fate’s sake, I wish there were no layers between us. Every piece of fabric keeping his body from mine scratches against my skin, and I reach with shaking fingers for the zipper of his jeans.
“No,” he says, and I stop instantly. He inhales slowly. “Those stay on.”
“But don’t you want—”
The hand bracing me splays at the base of my spine, euphoria flitting along my flesh. “You have no idea how much I want with you, Monroe.”
The way he says my name weaves itself low where my body shifts against his. I lick my cracked lips. The hardened bulge pressing into my hip paired with the desire rushing through me remind me how much he wants this too.
“Touch me, Briar.” I smile to ease the conflict of his desire and concern colliding in my chest. “Are you really going to make me beg?”
He shakes his head. “Never.”
I part my knees and he inhales sharply. The ball of throat works, hesitation slipping in and out of the bond.
“I promise I want this, Briar.” I hold my breath, preparing for him to say no.
He cradles my quivering chin and captures my stare. “The moment you’ve got enough magic to shift, I’m taking you to the Center.”
“Okay,” I whisper. “Now I need you to touch me.”
A twitch of his nose, and my underwear disappears, rain pelting my skin.
My legs move wider and I lean back against him.
With a pained groan, he peppers kisses up my throat and splays his hands across the valley of my spine.
His fingers nudge mine lower, guiding me inside myself.
The scent of rain mixing with his musky vanilla fills my senses—decadent and divine.
My head falls back against his shoulder, and I whimper, a subtle hum prickling beneath my skin.
“Look at you.” Briar stares at where I’m spread for him. I shamelessly curl my pelvis as much as I can as he teases and toys with my clit. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything sexier.”
His words are like the unlatching of a leash. The pressure between my legs builds. I’m weak, quivering, and taking my pleasure. His brows furrow, his lavender stare piercing me with every ounce of awe rolling through him. The intensity of it terrifies me. Invigorates me.
My body becomes an earthquake, and I cry out against his shoulder, biting into the drenched fabric, wanting to shred it away and let him wreck me.
Desperate to wreck him.
“Again,” I rasp, the euphoria of endorphins flooding my system and a familiar hum returning to my fingertips. But Briar guides me by the wrist, out of my body and into his waiting lips. He licks them clean, pupils blown, then brushes a kiss across my knuckles.
“The faster we get back, the sooner you’ll get more.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” I twitch my nose, still sluggish from seasonal sickness and loose from my orgasm, and slowly shrink down. My bones pop painfully, fur emerging from my skin.
One step closer to more blissed-out Briar shenanigans.
It propels me on, despite the ground shuddering beneath my paws with each heavy plod toward the rabbit hole.
It blurs and I blink a bit. Lids drooping, I bumble into him, chestnut fur brushing against my side, but he sticks with my pace until we reach the dirt-lined chute.
Whether I tumble or he nudges me over the ledge, I’m not certain…
All I know is I fall.