39. Chapter 39 #3
I looked down in time to see his lips wrap around the bud.
I sat up quickly, my hands moving rapidly to bury themselves in his soft hair.
At the contact, our eyes met—mine glazed with pleasure, his gone completely black.
It should’ve been frightening, perhaps. Instead, it reached into my chest and pulled my heart impossibly closer to his.
He looked that way because he wanted me. Because he wanted my satisfaction so badly, he couldn’t hold back his body’s reaction to it.
His tongue moved in another slow sweep, his gaze locked onto mine. I surrendered—my grasp on his hair and all control over the situation—falling back onto the chair he’d made for me. A headrest formed before my shoulders even hit the surface.
The tip of his tongue danced over my swollen bud with small flicks, before switching to slow, languid strokes, as his fingers continued their ceaseless exploration. With how quickly I’d reacted to his touch the last time, I realized he was deliberately prolonging the moment.
“Owain,” I moaned. “Stop delaying.”
I felt his lips quirk up as he kissed my right then left thigh. He knew he’d been caught. This time he didn’t try to disguise the fact that he was breathing me in as his nose nuzzled my soft skin. “Sorry.”
“No, you’re not,” I panted.
“True.” Another wicked chuckle. He sighed. “I finally have you…didn’t want to stop.”
There was something raw in his voice when he said it. Something that made my chest ache in a way I wasn’t prepared for in such a heated moment.
I lifted my head to whisper. “No one is leaving this time, Owain…. I’m here.”
Something in my words broke him open. His forehead pressed against my inner knee. He let out a short, trembling breath, as though he needed a moment to collect himself before he could move. As though I’d given him something he hadn’t dared hope for.
He closed the distance again, this time with unmistakable intent. He buried his face inside me with a muffled groan.
I pressed my hips down onto the pressure of his lips moving against me as my heart sped up again. My breathing felt different, shallower, as though my lungs were now solely meant to accommodate the longing that consumed me.
Pressure built. My body started trembling as release simmered in my veins. Unbidden, my thighs tightened around his head as if I wanted to keep him there forever.
Owain’s response was a low rumbling growl in his throat that wiped all other thoughts from my mind. I forgot that I was suspended above the ground, bound and completely at his mercy. I’d thought myself familiar with the act, but his tongue and hands had rewritten everything.
It was a miracle I’d managed to keep quiet, as a shout would’ve surely drawn a score of guards. This. This was what I hadn’t known I was starving for. Not just the pleasure but being seen inside it—being held together while coming apart.
It came on in a slow surge, cresting into an impossible rolling climax that coursed through me, pounding in my blood. I gasped under the flood of sensation as I came apart.
With the perfect balance of tenderness and firmness, he kept licking and sucking until the tension in my thighs gradually eased, releasing their grip around his head.
The afterglow was so potent I didn’t realize he’d moved until I felt myself being lifted into a seated position. He showered my head and now-sweaty brow with countless gentle kisses. My eyes fluttered open, and I found myself pressed against his warm chest, my legs now open around his hips.
“My Luna,” he whispered into my hair. “I don’t want to let you go.”
Somehow, I found my voice, hands reaching to find the laces of his trousers. “Then don’t.”
He took a half-step back. With a self-deprecating chuckle, he explained, “I already proved that would be far too messy.”
“Doesn’t have to be,” I said wickedly.
He groaned, his head falling heavily backward. “I’m willing to wait forever for you, Luna. But I will murder one of our guests if they don’t leave the Tir soon.”
“Tonight then,” I said, pulling him back into the warmth between my thighs.
“Tonight,” he whispered, planting a single kiss on my forehead that was so tender it almost made me weep.
Tonight felt too far away. And for the first time, I didn’t even consider the possibility that he’d change his mind or reject me. The girl who’d flinched from being known felt very far away now.
I wasn’t sure I’d miss her.
A muscle worked in his jaw. “I’ll be there when you heal Berian.” His voice dropped low, serious beneath the softness. “You won’t be alone with them.”
“Owain, it’s—”
“Don’t.” His storm-filled eyes met mine. “Don’t tell me it’s fine.”
It wasn’t fine. Neither of us was safe. We both knew it.
And yet he was still here. Still standing beside me. Not out of duty, or because it would protect me. He’d simply chosen me.
The mages still waited. Berian still needed healing. Nothing beyond this closet had become simpler. But the trove of old injuries no longer governed every step I took toward sharing my happiness with another person.
Owain dismissed the conjured chair, and I straightened my dress. We stepped into the corridor hand-in-hand. It was time to put myself in front of the mages who’d already decided I belonged to them.
With him beside me, I couldn’t wait to show them just how wrong they were…and how very right I’d been to choose him anyway.