Chapter 22 #2
This incurable devotion was going to make my escape a living hell.
Just like with any powerful drug, the withdrawal would be brutal.
I’d scream and shake and writhe in pain.
I’d cry out for him in the night. See visions of him on the street.
My stomach would twist; my chest would ache.
I’d fear that my heart was about to burst.
And unlike with other addictions, there would be no recovery. No relief.
Tauren would always be in my blood. The craving for him as strong as ever, pounding through my veins.
But that was the future, I told myself.
Right now, he was still in front of me. Where I could touch him. Where I could feel him.
Looking up into his hard, masculine gaze, I saw the same hunger reflected in his dark eyes.
“I won’t let you go,” he said out of nowhere, making me wonder if we’d become so close that he could actually read my mind. “I’d tear this whole world apart to keep you by my side. You know that by now. So whatever you’re planning, Hannah, it won’t work.”
I tried to shake my head. Tried to make it look real, but it wasn’t any use. Tauren’s eyes could see right through me. Down to the very spark of my soul.
I couldn’t hide the truth from him.
I couldn’t hide anything at all.
But for his sake, I had to keep trying.
“I’m not planning anything.”
He lifted his hand, brushing the back of his fingers against my cheek before cupping his palm over the back of my neck. With one quick tug, he pulled me flush against him.
“My sweet little liar,” he growled before lifting me up into a searing kiss, the erotic promise of his touch all-consuming.
Wrapping my arms around his neck, I held on tight. Only a few seconds later, I heard the splash of water and felt the shockingly cold spray landing on my calves.
“Tauren!” I gasped. He couldn’t be pulling me into the water. Not when I was still fully dressed. “My clothes.”
“They’ll dry.” He kept going, water rushing up over my feet and ankles as he moved us in deeper.
Easy for him to say. He wasn’t the one who only had two ill-fitting, borrowed dresses to his name after his clothes had gone missing.
But I didn’t utter another protest as the cold water rose over my legs, hips, and waist. Until I found myself arching my spine, desperate to press myself against the heat of his body.
Flooded with water, the fabric of my dress hung heavy against my shoulders and clung to my chest. Underneath the surface, wisps of linen brushed against my ankles…but not for long.
Once both our bodies were fully submerged, Tauren slid the material up, his hands skimming over my skin and above my head. Then, one-handed, he tossed the sopping mess over onto the shore where it landed with a heavy slap against the rocks.
Surrounded by the cold embrace of the water, my skin tingled, primed for touch. My nipples hardened against his chest. It hadn’t taken long for my body to burn with desire so strong that not even the frigid water could quench it.
“I want you,” I moaned, unable to stop myself.
He didn’t hesitate.
The instant the words left my lips, I felt Tauren’s mouth take their place. His beard brushing against my cheeks. His tongue running over my teeth. I clung to his shoulders as his hand slid up to tangle in my dripping wet hair. I never wanted to let go.
I’d changed so much since our first visit here. Now I knew exactly the kind of pleasure our bodies could create. The type of passion we could kindle. How hot we could burn.
His hands roamed my body, drawing me deeper into the storm of sensation. My shoulder, my spine, the curve of my waist—they all came alive at his touch. I gasped as the tips of his fingers grazed against the skin of my thigh.
Curling his giant hand around my leg, he brought one knee up, guiding it around his hips. Instinctively, I did the same with the other, not just clinging to Tauren’s body but locking myself firmly in place.
“No one is ever going to take you away from me.” His voice had become gravelly with lust. Combing his fingers through my wet and tangled hair, he grasped the back of my head, making sure I couldn’t turn away, that my full attention stayed on him and his words. “No one.”
His whole body tensed as his hips tilted forward, and I gasped as the head of his hardened cock found my opening, teasing the sensitive flesh there with its presence. I bit into my lip, held my breath, teetering on the edge of anticipation.
“I’m never letting go.”
With an almost violent explosion of energy, he brought my body down hard around him. My mouth fell open at the rush of sensation, desperately sucking in air. The feeling of being filled so fast and so completely was stunning.
And it wasn’t just Tauren’s size. Everything about him was overwhelming. The erotic magic of his words. The feral feel of his touch. The possessive look in his dark eyes.
All of it mixed together, creating a perfect storm of uncontrolled lust inside me.
Even though the water was cold, the heat from Tauren’s body was more than enough to counteract the chill…especially when he started to move.
Water crashing behind us, mist swirling at our waists, he effortlessly guided me up and down around his shaft. My hands clung to the hard muscles of his shoulders for support as glorious sensation built inside me.
The soft wind wrapping around our bare bodies, the tall trees towering above—everything felt right. Better than right.
Perfect.
This was how it was always meant to be.
Tauren and I. Here. Together. In the place where everything had started.
My head fell back. My back arched, pressing me more fully against him, as my legs began to shake.
“Never!”
His voice was a roar. One that rose up to the tops of the trees and shook the sky itself. Anyone within a mile of the waterfall must have heard it—a declaration of the bond between us.
In a moment like this, where everything felt raw and primal, it was easy to believe he was right. On the precipice of overpowering pleasure, it was so tempting to believe that the only thing we needed to survive was each other.
Especially when he started to thrust in earnest. Plunging into my body again and again, until neither of us could take any more. Until his grasp on me tightened to an almost crushing degree. Until I shattered in his arms, my release flowing out of me like the water that surrounded us.
And Tauren was right behind me.
Tethered to him in our shared sea of ecstasy, I felt his body shake…then swell…then let go.
Even when it was over, as my arms draped limply over his shoulders, I could still feel him locked inside me.
The pulse of his body.
The thrill of being so close to someone so wild.
So primal.
It was absolutely perfect. Like nothing else in the world.
A sensation worth dying for.