Chapter Twenty-Three Riela #2
His eyes crinkled like he was suppressing a smile. “There was no shoving.”
“Semantics,” I said, dismissing his words with a wave. “What changed?”
“If you’ll recall, I found you snooping through my desk right before you kissed me.” I winced and opened my mouth to explain,
but he kept speaking. “And you took out half of the protection charms surrounding the castle. I’ve been burned before by mages I thought were allies,
and even if I hadn’t, I’m a danger to you.”
That sidetracked me away from the question about who had betrayed him. “Are you a danger to me? Truly?”
“Feylan already wants you because you’re a focus. If he realizes I care for you in any way, he’ll stop at nothing to have
you. I might not be able to protect you,” Garrick admitted softly.
I pressed my lips together in frustration. “So rather than asking me if that was a risk I was willing to take, you unilaterally decided to make the decision for both of us?”
He huffed out a laugh. “I’m getting there, little tempest. Have patience.” When I exasperatedly gestured for him to continue,
he smiled and swept his thumb over my jaw for a moment before his expression turned serious. “You make me want to hope. That’s what’s changed. And as you said, you can make your own decisions. I’ve told you the risks. If you’re still willing to explore
whatever this”—he waved between us—“might become, Riela, then so am I.”
Every time he said my name, it tugged on something low in my belly, and desire shimmered over my skin. No one had ever told
me that I made them want to hope. And for Garrick to admit it, after he’d warned me that hope was dangerous, made butterflies storm through my stomach.
My desire climbed higher. “I’m willing,” I whispered, my gaze on his mouth.
His magic rose, swirling around him. “Kiss me,” he demanded.
I shook my head. Surprise crossed his face, and he started to release me, but I stopped him with a tiny smile. “It’s your
turn to steal a kiss.”
He groaned and his head dipped. The first brush of his lips against mine sent sparks skating along my nerves. The contact
was featherlight, almost more dream than reality.
I wrapped my hands around his shoulders and tried to pull him closer.
“Greedy,” he murmured against my mouth.
“Yes.” I leaned back to look at him. “Kiss me like you mean it or don’t bother.”
Hunger sharpened the planes of his face for an instant before his mouth crashed down on mine, demanding and giving in equal
measure. His tongue stroked into my mouth, and I moaned as yearning tightened every nerve. This was what I wanted—what I needed.
He shifted me until I was straddling his lap and the new angle made it even easier for me to rub my hands over his naked chest.
He jerked my hips closer and his erection nestled between my legs, separated by only a few layers of cloth.
Layers I desperately wished would vanish.
I rocked against him, and we both hissed before his hands clamped around my hips, preventing me from moving. I growled my
dissatisfaction into his mouth, and he smiled against my lips. “Patience, tempest.”
Screw patience. I tried to shift again, but he held me motionless. The fact that he could stop me from moving was nearly as heady as the movement itself. I was at his mercy, and I both loved and loathed it.
“I could take you like this, angry and frustrated, and it would be spectacular,” Garrick murmured.
My body clenched. I groaned, then bit my lip against the urge to beg for exactly that. I wouldn’t be defeated so easily.
I caught his jaw in my hands and held him still as I brushed light, tempting kisses over his lips. When he thrust up against
me in frustration, I slid my tongue into his mouth and kissed him deeply as desire drowned out everything except the feel
of his body.
Then his hands urged me into motion, and I ground myself against him, chasing pleasure, but not quite able to get there. I
slipped a hand into my trousers and Garrick groaned out a strangled encouragement.
I was slick and sensitive and it only took a moment for the pleasure to crest, tipping me into rapturous waves of bliss. Once
I could think, I reached for the hem of my tunic and pulled it over my head. My breast-band followed, until my chest was bare
under Garrick’s heated gaze.
His lips closed around my nipple, and I arched into the touch.
Then he helped me shimmy out of my remaining clothes before he removed his breeches. I started to lie back, but he stopped
me with a wicked smile. He sat back against the headboard and pulled me into his lap.
This time, there was nothing between us, and we groaned in unison.
His hands wrapped around my hips, but I stopped him with a touch to his jaw. “I don’t want to become pregnant.”
“My magic prevents pregnancy by default,” he murmured. “You are safe, I swear it. But if you like, I’ll teach you the spell
so you can protect yourself.”
“I trust you,” I murmured. “But you can teach me later.” I grinned. “Once we’re less . . . occupied.”
His lips quirked, but he nodded gravely. “I will.”
I kissed him and shifted, gliding my slick heat along his length until he notched against me, huge and hard. He guided me
down, slowly, inexorably. The stretch was exquisite, and I trembled as my nerves lit with ecstasy.
Garrick was watching my body sink onto his cock with a look of wild hunger, and it was intoxicating. I shivered and clenched around him.
His control broke, and he jerked me the rest of the way down, burying himself to the hilt.
The orgasm blindsided me, and my muscles locked as waves of pleasure blotted out the world. “Yes,” Garrick growled. Then he
lifted me and dropped me back on his hard length and the pleasure doubled.
I moaned as Garrick continued to work my body, giving me no quarter. The pleasure intensified, but I finally remembered that
I had muscles of my own, and I caught the rhythm, determined to push him over the edge.
He groaned and muttered something in a foreign language that sounded like a curse. Moonlight magic whirled around us, and
his body was bowstring tight under me. I slammed my hips down, taking him deep, then sucked on the spot where his shoulder
met his neck.
He came with a roar.
Then I was flat on my back, and he was thrusting into my slick heat, his muscles bunching and moving under my grasping fingers.
“Come for me again,” he growled. “Now.”
I snorted at his hubris even as the pleasure rose. “I don’t think—”
He pressed his thumb against my clit just as he hit a spot that made me see stars and my body tumbled into orgasm.
“Good,” he praised, and I clenched tight around him as the word arrowed straight to my center.
His expression took on a wicked, knowing edge, but he didn’t say anything else. He rolled over, pulling me on top of him even
as he remained half hard, and I trembled with aftershocks.
I was by no means a virgin, but I’d never had someone learn my body so quickly—or so well.
Garrick’s magic rose, then a blanket draped over my back, covering us both. “Sleep,” he murmured. This time, there was no
magic behind the command, but I drifted into slumber anyway, boneless and content.