42. The Stolen Bride
Itried not to think of the icy cold water or the chance of drowning. I tried not to think of Briar and whether she would be able to convince Papa to call off his soldiers and retreat to the safety of the mountains.
Instead, I thought of where I wanted to go—to him.
I thought of Forrest’s low chuckle, his bright green eyes, and his intoxicating scent. I thought of the feel of his lips and the warmth of his embrace. I thought of him until I wasn’t sure if my head was spinning from the violent water or just from him.
And then the whirlpool spat me out on a sand dune.
That was the last thing I remembered before I lost consciousness.
A man with black hair leaned over me, his green eyes alight with fear as he shook me. ”Georgia, wake up. Georgia, please.”
I moaned and blinked my eyes. I was icy cold, and I felt battered.
”Thank the tides,” I heard him mutter.
He helped me into a sitting position and wrapped his cloak around my shoulders. I felt instantly warmer. I tried to stand, but I could no longer bear my own weight. I crumpled back to the ground.
He kneeled down to check on me and chuckled. ”Little sparrow, there’s no use flying in a hurricane. Just let the winds carry you.”
He scooped me into his warm arms, and I looped mine around his neck. I felt such immense relief in that moment. He was here, I was here, and somehow we were both alive.
”I’m sorry I left,” I said, looking up at him with hopeful eyes.
”I’m sorry I made you want to leave,” he said, gazing down at me with his usual intensity. ”I thought I would never see you again.”
”I want to see you always,” I said.
His mouth opened in surprise. ”I want that too,” he breathed.
I pressed my hand to his cheek and claimed his lips. There was nothing gentle or sweet about it. I parted his lips with my tongue, and he came alive against my mouth, meeting my passion with his own.
”Can I stay forever?” I asked.
”Just try to leave,” he growled against my ear.
I shivered, and he wrapped his cloak tighter around me.
It reminded me of that very first night we met. When I emerged from the pond nearly naked. When he wrapped his traveling cloak around me. Oh, the delicious things that might have happened that night.
Things that could happen now.
He started kissing my neck, and I forgot we were even standing on a beach. I was snapped back to reality when I heard the deafening roar of a tree being uprooted.
He followed my eyes over to the tree. ”Time to get you inside,” he said.
I bit my lip. ”What about the storm? Aren’t you needed?”
”I’ve done all I can. All we can do now is wait,” he said.
I wrapped my legs teasingly around his waist. “Then we should use our time wisely.”
He looked at me hungrily. Then he paused. ”You’re not just doing this to stop the storm, are you? Out of some misguided self sacrifice.”
I shook my head. ”Of course not.”
He studied me. ”I want to be really clear about this. I don’t know how to end my curse, and I don’t know how to stop the unseelie. We have a plan in place, and we’re giving it everything we’ve got, but-”
”I want you, Forrest. If the island is going to sink below the waves, if my kingdom is to be turned to sand, if I must die, I would only wish to be in your arms.”
He sucked in a sharp breath and whispered low in my ear, ”Even if this storm destroys everything around us, I’ll have you.”
For once, his door was closing behind us. For the first time, I was truly on the inside. He wanted me here. He wanted me. Not just for today but for always.
I looked around and saw his familiar mess of clothing and goblets. ”Your room is a wreck,” I laughed.
He raised his eyebrows and purred in my ear, ”Let’s wreck it some more.”
He trailed hot kisses down my neck, and his fingers worked the laces of my gown. Soon, it fell to the floor, leaving me in only a thin chemise and stay. Slowly, his lips made their way down to my collarbone and sucked on the sensitive skin there, coaxing a low moan from my lips.
He sucked in a sharp breath at the sound and started working the laces of my stay with frenzied fingers. At last, it fell to the floor too.
One by one, I clumsily worked his wet garments from his body until they joined mine on the bedroom floor. Until we were completely bare before each other.
I drank in every last drop of him, in a way I had never allowed myself to before. I wanted to memorize every inch of him, from his silky black hair to his soulful eyes to his warm, hard chest to the delicious, soft flesh where his hips met his groin.
He seemed to feel the same way. His eyes moved over me in loving awe. ”You’re gorgeous, Georgia,” he breathed.
I knew he couldn’t lie, but even if he could, I would have chosen to believe him anyway. We had shared all of our secrets now, and we were prepared to share our lives. I was ready to close this distance between us.
”I-I’ve never done this before,” I said softly.
He stopped. ”Oh?”
”I’ve done things, but not, you know, this.”
He nodded. ”We can go as slow as you want or not at all. You know that, right?”
I nodded. ”But Forrest?”
”Yeah,” he mumbled, his lips on my neck.
”I don’t want to go slow. I want to go fast. So fast.”
He chuckled in my ear. ”As you command, my queen. We shall go as slowly as fast as possible.”
He pulled me to his chest, and I fell easily into his warmth. He tilted my chin up and captured my lips with his. I opened my mouth and welcomed him in.
Soon, we were a tangle on his silk sheets of exploring hands and eager kisses. He brought his lips from my neck down to my clavicle before reaching my breast. He sucked gently, and I moaned in pleasure.
The sound seemed to stir something within because I could hear his own breath quicken.
I traced my fingers across his chest and stomach until I reached delicate skin. I trailed my fingers right along where his waistband would have fallen.
Then I lowered my hand to caress his length, feeling him grow harder against my fingertips.
He groaned. ”Slow down,” he said with a chuckle. ”I want this to be good for you too.”
I blushed.
”It’s all really good for me,” he assured me, nipping at my ear.
He ran his fingers along the silky smooth skin of my thighs agonizingly slowly until I ached for him to reach the apex. When he finally did, I sighed with pleasure. He explored my most intimate place, stroking and pressing until I was writhing against his hand.
I wanted all of him now. I pulled him to my chest until he was hovering over me, careful not to crush me with his full weight. I could feel his heart racing in time with my own.
I lifted my hips to meet his hardness.
”Are you sure?” he asked.
I nodded and crushed my lips against his in answer.
I felt his heavy warmth against me, and he slowly entered. There was a small bite of pain as I adjusted to this feeling of fullness.
He moved slowly until that bite of pain was replaced with a chaos of pleasure that left me aching for more. I wrapped my legs around his waist, pulling him in deeper.
Our pace, our caresses, our kisses became more as our control melted away. I hardly knew where my body ended and his began. We were both at the brink of something amazing. Our hearts were beating as one.
He gazed deeply into my eyes, and I didn’t need his words to know what he was saying. But he gave them to me anyway. ”I love you.”
With one more thrust, I was over the edge, and he was falling right after me.
He collapsed into the spot next to me, and I rolled into his warm embrace. ”I love you, too,” I whispered.
We fell asleep tangled in each other”s arms.
The dark storm clouds parted just enough for a ray of faded sunlight to wake me.
I was laying on top of something uncomfortable. I shifted before realizing the thing I was laying on was Forrest’s arm.
I looked up at the sky then back down at the sleeping man next to me. A jolt of pure joy shot through me.
”Forrest,” I said, shaking him awake.
He sat up, and his eyes darted around the room. ”What’s the matter?”
”Absolutely nothing,” I said with a huge grin. ”You’re… you.”
For a split second, he seemed confused. Then his eyes roved down his body and our intertwined legs. His mouth dropped open, and his eyes widened in surprise. Then a slow smile spread across his lips, and his eyes lit up like the sun. “Georgia,” he whispered in awe.
I pressed my body up against him. “I know,” I breathed back.
“But how?” he whispered.
“Love?” I guessed. “Yours? Mine?”
“Ours,” he rumbled.
Then he pulled me close and kissed me soundly.
When, at last, he broke the kiss, I groaned in protest.
Breathless, he said, ”Little sparrow, I want to do so very many things with you, but first, I need to go kick some unseelie ass. I want you to wait right here in this bed. Promise you won’t move?”
I hesitated, wanting desperately to go with him. Though I knew I would be in the way. I could jump into a whirlpool. I could cross the sea in a sailboat with magical aid. I could stand up to my father and older sister. I could bare my heart to him. But I wasn’t a soldier. I had never been trained to wield a sword or elements.
“Please don’t worry,” he said softly. “Because of you, my curse is broken. I am more than strong enough to defend my crown and court. This is my duty.”
I took a deep breath and nodded.
He dropped a kiss on the top of my head, and I watched him go.
I pulled the comforter tight around me until I was warm and cozy. I didn’t have to wait long before a bolt of lightning cracked open the sky. It was bigger and more powerful than any I had ever seen before. It had to be Forrest. A warning to the unseelie, perhaps.
Over the next couple of hours, I watched a war rage across the open skies. Swirls of dark clouds and pelting rain were replaced with blue-gray skies, only for thunder to rumble in the distance. The terrible dance continued.
Then the sky turned a brilliant blue, and the clouds became puffy and white. All was calm.
At last, the sun was ready to shine on a new day.