Chapter 30 Liz
Liz
Lucan led me to a corner of the cavern that had been transformed into something that belonged in a magazine spread for luxury camping. Blankets and pillows created a cozy little nest. The firelight reached just far enough to make the space feel warm without leaving it exposed.
Lucan took my items and placed them carefully on top of a closed trunk near the wall. I stood there, unsure what to do with my hands. Why did this feel like I was about to have sex for the first time?
A giggle slipped out at how ridiculous I was being as Lucan stopped in front of me. He rubbed his hands reassuringly up and down my arms.
“Is this okay?” Lucan searched my face. “We don’t have to do anything here. We can just relax.”
That was one thing I loved about him. He always checked. Every step of the way, he paused to make sure I was still with him. Not because he doubted me, but because he cared enough to ask.
“Lucan.”
“Yeah?”
My throat tightened. “I’m falling in love with you. I didn’t plan on it, and I wasn’t looking for it. It scares the hell out of me, but I am.”
His jaw worked, and for a second, I thought he might not say anything at all. Then his hand came up to cup my face, his thumb brushing along my cheekbone. “I’ve loved you since the moment you sprayed me with bear spray.”
A laugh burst out of me. “That’s a terrible origin story.”
“It’s a very romantic origin story.” His eyes were glassy, and he blinked hard.
“You were naked.” I laughed again, and this time the tears came with it, sliding down my cheeks.
Lucan pulled me into his arms as his shoulders shook with quiet laughter. “Every man dreams of the day he meets his soulmate, and she runs away screaming.”
“We’re a mess,” I mumbled into his shirt.
“We’re perfect.”
I tilted my face up, and he was already there, his mouth meeting mine. The kiss started soft, his lips warm and gentle against mine. He moved his hand from my cheek to the back of my neck, fingers threading into the short hair at my nape, and I melted into him.
His tongue swept against my lower lip, and I opened for him, tasting him as his grip on me tightened. He walked me backward until the blankets were under my feet, then lowered me down with a controlled strength that made my pulse race.
He hovered over me, his forearms braced on either side of my head. His body was close enough that I could feel the heat rolling off his skin. My whole body lit up with need for him.
His lips trailed along my jaw to his mark beneath my ear, and I shivered.
I grabbed the hem of my shirt and pulled it off, briefly breaking the contact between us.
His exhale came out ragged. His eyes tracked down my body as if he'd never seen me like this before. And maybe he hadn’t. Not like this. Not after completing the final piece of our bond. And definitely not in a place where he kept his treasure.
“You’re stunning.”
I ran my hands down his stomach, feeling every muscle tighten under my palms. My fingers trailed along the waistband of his shorts, and he sucked in a breath when my knuckles grazed underneath.
“Liz.”
“Shh.” I pushed the elastic down, and he helped with the rest, kicking free of the shorts.
The rest of my clothes came off in a tangle of hands. Then there was nothing between us but skin and heat and the bond humming in my chest like a second heartbeat.
He kissed down my throat, his mouth hot and possessive, each press of his lips leaving a trail of fire in their wake. He lingered at my collarbone, tasting the hollow there as if memorizing me, his short beard scraping deliciously against my sensitive skin.
His mouth traced the curve of my breast with agonizing slowness. When his tongue finally circled one nipple while his fingers skillfully rolled the other between them, my back arched off the blankets.
“Lucan.” I gripped his hair, holding him there. He groaned against my skin, and the vibration shot straight through me.
He moved down past the softness of my stomach, the brush of his lips and beard making me clench my thighs. As he parted my thighs and settled between them, he looked up at me. The raw hunger in his eyes made my breath catch.
“I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life showing you how fucking sexy you are, Elizabeth.”
Then his mouth was on me, and the world shrank down to the feel of his tongue and the grip of his hands holding me open. He was unhurried, as if he had nowhere else to be and nothing else to do but take me apart, one slow stroke at a time.
When he sealed his lips around my clit and sucked, I made a mewling sound I’d never heard come out of my mouth before. My hand found the back of his head and held him there.
The tension coiled tight, building fast, and my hips rocked against his mouth, chasing it.
But I didn’t want to fall without him.
“Wait.” I tugged at his hair, and he stopped immediately, his head lifting. His mouth was wet, his chest heaving, and his eyes completely purple. “I need you inside me. Please.”
The bond between us surged with a pulse of heat that I felt all the way into my bones. He crawled up my body and kissed me, deep and filthy, and I tasted myself on his tongue.
His hand slid between us, his fingers finding how ready I was. “Is this all for me?”
I nodded and shifted beneath him, wrapping one leg around his hip, angling myself until I felt him at my entrance. “Claim me, Lucan.”
The last wall he’d been keeping between the man and his dragon crumbled. He pushed into me in a thrust that stole every thought from my head.
He stilled, giving me a moment to adjust, his arms shaking. I rolled my hips against him, and his jaw clenched.
“Please.” I squirmed beneath him, not needing time.
He didn’t hesitate. With one powerful thrust, he buried himself inside me, filling me completely. I gasped, my fingers digging into his shoulders as my body stretched to accommodate him.
“Move,” I whispered, desperate for friction.
His hips pulled back and slammed forward again, setting a rhythm that had me clawing at his back.
The careful restraint he usually showed was gone, replaced by something primal and possessive.
Each thrust was punctuated by his ragged breathing against my ear, his hands gripping my hips hard enough to leave marks.
“You feel amazing,” he growled, his voice deeper than I’d ever heard it. His mouth found mine in a kiss that was all teeth and tongue, stealing what little breath I had left.
I wrapped my legs around his waist, changing the angle until he hit that perfect spot inside me that made stars burst behind my eyelids. “Right there,” I gasped. “Don’t stop.”
His eyes locked on mine, and the connection between us pulsed with each thrust, something building that went beyond the physical sensation.
I was already so close to the edge.
My hands slid down his sweat-slicked back to grip his ass, urging him deeper, but it wasn’t deep enough. As if sensing what I needed, he pulled out and flipped me over. He pulled my hips up as I settled onto my forearms as he thrust back into me.
He reached around me, his fingers finding my clit. “Come for me, Liz. I need to feel you come around me.”
The pressure of his fingers combined with the relentless rhythm of his hips pushed me over the edge. I came with a cry that echoed off the cavern walls, my body clenching around him like a vise.
But he didn’t stop. If anything, he drove into me harder, prolonging my orgasm until I was trembling and incoherent beneath him.
“Mine,” he growled.
“Yours,” I managed, the word breaking apart on a moan.
The pace shifted, and the bond in my chest expanded and pulsed in time with every thrust. It was reaching for something, stretching toward a completion that I knew would change me forever.
Lucan’s breath was ragged against the back of my neck, his movements jerky as we both spiraled higher. His arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me up until my back was flush against his chest. The angle changed, and I shattered.
Another orgasm crashed through me, and with it, the bond detonated. That was the only word for it. Something in my chest cracked wide open, and what poured through wasn’t just pleasure.
It was him. All of him. His love, his fear, his fierce protectiveness, his joy. It flooded through me like sunlight hitting a dark room, and I cried out as tears streamed down my face.
Lucan followed a second later with a guttural sound that wasn’t entirely human, his body shuddering against mine. His release rolled through me in a wave of completeness.
We stayed like that for a long moment, both of us trembling, his arms locked around me. He finally pulled out, leaving me empty before lowering us to the blankets.
I rolled over and tucked myself against him as he pulled a blanket over us.
“You okay?” His voice was wrecked.
“I’m more than okay.” I pressed my palm flat against his chest. “I can feel you.”
His hand covered mine. “I know. I feel you too.”
I traced a slow circle on his chest. “For the record, I don’t regret the bear spray.”
His laugh rumbled under my hand. “Neither do I.”
I smiled against his skin and closed my eyes, letting the steady rhythm of his heart carry me somewhere safe.