Chapter 30
The kiss…
Caden’s mouth moved against mine with lust-soaked intensity.
He kissed—God, he kissed like a man starving.
He kissed as if he were going to devour me, and I wanted that.
I needed it. It was all I could think about.
Or maybe I wasn’t thinking at all. Instead, I was feeling. I was just letting myself feel.
“You drive me insane,” he growled, sliding his hand down my throat. “And even worse, I think I like it.”
“There is something wrong with you.” I gasped as his hand cupped my breast. “There’s nothing wrong with this.
” He squeezed gently, causing a hot shiver to curl its way down my spine.
His arm loosened around my waist, and I felt his fingers at the buttons of my blouse.
There was a light tugging motion, and then the sound of buttons hitting the floor. “I hope you didn’t like this shirt.”
“I did.”
“You’ll forget about it soon enough.”
Caden was right. I did. He turned me in his arms, tugging the cups of my bra down, and the hem of my skirt up. Before I had a chance to think, his lips moved along the scar Aric had left behind, kissing the faintly pale, slightly raised skin.
And then he drew my nipple into his hot mouth. I gasped as pleasure rolled through me. His free hand slipped between my thighs, his fingers brushing over my panties before making quick work of them. I had no idea if he tore them off or if they’d simply fallen to the floor.
He lifted his head, nuzzling my neck under my ear.
“I don’t think you have any idea how badly I want you.
” His fingers brushed along the center of my core once more, this time with no barrier.
“I can’t stop thinking about this.” One finger slipped inside, just a little.
I moaned. “About how you felt around my fingers. How tight and wet. How you rode my hand.”
My entire body clenched. Hot, tight shudders racked my body.
Caden’s fingers were barely in me, and I already felt like I might tip over the edge.
This was insane. I was mad at him, and he was beyond frustrated with me, but this…
God, this felt right, and I was so full of raw, painful need that I didn’t care what came next.
“Do you want this?” he murmured against my cheek, pressing his finger in just a little farther. “Just say the word, and I’ll make you forget everything.”
I knew I should say no. I should stop this. But I didn’t. I said, “Yes.”
Caden moved so fast, my breath got stuck. He lifted me up as if I weighed nothing, and then he was laying me down. It took a moment to realize that I was in his bedroom, on his bed, stripped bare. And then he was naked above me, his erection thick and hard.
His mouth was on mine once more, his tongue dancing with mine, and then he trailed kisses down my throat, over my breasts, and…then he kissed each of the scars on my stomach with his tongue and his lips. The silent, small act was monumental and brought tears to my eyes.
I was lost all over again, and it wasn’t just the pure seduction he wrought as his mouth made its way around my navel and then moved lower. It was him.
Lightning burst through my veins as he grasped my hips, and I felt his breath brush over where I ached the most. There was no time to feel self-conscious, to think that I’d only done this twice before, and both times I’d been so caught up in my own head and the shocking intimacy of the act that I hadn’t enjoyed myself.
There were no thoughts here.
Caden captured my flesh with his mouth, slipping in with deep, firm strokes of his tongue.
I cried out, trembling as raw sensation threatened to drown me.
My fingers curled in his hair as my back arched.
I couldn’t move, not with the way he held my hips down.
There was no escaping the blissful torture.
Not that I really wanted to, not with the way the tension was building and building.
Finally, it shattered. My body liquefied as I climaxed, kicking my head back as I moaned his name.
His head lifted at the sound, and through half-open eyes, I saw that his gaze was luminous. “Say it again. My name.”
“Caden,” I whispered.
Never breaking eye contact, he lowered his mouth once more, lapping at the slick moisture. I panted, my eyes widening as he lifted his head and licked his lips.
Dear God.
He climbed over me, his attention feral and possessive.
Slipping an arm under my hips, he lifted me up.
The fine hairs of his chest teased the sensitive peaks of my breasts.
His lips claimed mine as I felt him reach between us, and then I felt his thick head pushing in.
His skin felt like fire—his bare skin. Concern flared, but reality swept in.
Fae couldn’t pass diseases to humans, and pregnancy was so rare that it wasn’t an issue.
I clutched his shoulders, lifting my hips as he sank in an inch and then two. Caden groaned into my mouth.
His hips flexed, and then he slid in all the way.
The pressure and sudden fullness wrung a gasp from me.
It had been a while, like years and years, but the bite of pain gave way to pleasure as he started to move, slowly at first, and then faster.
He took me, and I didn’t realize until then how badly I wanted that from him.
He pressed his lips to my temple the moment before his thrusts lost all rhythm as his hips plunged into mine.
The sounds of our breathing and our wet bodies making contact surrounded us until I couldn’t hold back.
Moans I didn’t even know I was capable of left me, and his answering groan was like a match to kindling.
I went up in flames all over again, breaking into a thousand tiny pieces.
I cried out his name over and over as he drove into me, his arm tightening around me until there was no him or me, just us.
He thrust deeply, stilling as he came, shouting my name, his large body trembling with the force of his release until he collapsed, his weight shifting to one arm beside me on the bed.
His breath was ragged as he rested his forehead against my temple, and I had no idea how long we lay there.
Could’ve been minutes, could’ve been hours.
Finally, he slid out of me and fully onto his side.
He didn’t pull away, though. With his arm around my waist, he tugged me against him so that my chest was pressed to his.
I could feel his heart pounding just as fast as mine.
The reality of what had just happened was slow to take hold as his hand slid up and down my thigh and hip. The only thing I could really focus on at first was how callused his palm felt, but then my brain finally pulled itself out of its multiple orgasm-induced stupor.
We’d had sex.
And not just normal, everyday sex, but sex that had started with us arguing and, somewhere in the middle had turned into me pulling a dagger on him, and then…
He’d kissed me, and it was like a switch had been thrown for both of us.
How all of that had come about, I really had no idea, but I…
I didn’t regret it, even though the logical voice in the back of my mind told me that everything could change in a matter of moments.
I just…I couldn’t find it in me to lambast myself for this at the moment.
But I didn’t know what to say or do as my fingers rested on his side. Did I get up, thank him for the orgasm, and then remind him to stay out of my business? Or did I linger? I couldn’t do that. Tink was leaving this evening.
“You okay?” Caden asked.
I leaned my head back so I could see him. Those amber-colored eyes were only half open as they focused on me. “Yeah. Are you?”
“Barely.” His full lips tipped up in a half-grin that did funny, crazy things to my heart. “You haven’t been with someone in a while, and I wasn’t…particularly gentle.”
His concern caused another round of funny things to happen in my chest. My gaze lowered to his mouth. “It was…you were perfect.”
“What? Is that a compliment? From you?” He paused. “The same person who threatened to cut off my balls?”
“Can I take that back?”
“The cutting off my balls part?”
“No. The compliment part.”
“Harsh.”
I grinned, finding it surprising how…comfortable I was with him, even though I was lying there buck-ass naked with all my flaws on display. And there were a lot of them. Not just the scars, but the many, many nights of eating pizza, ice cream, chips….
“It’s been a while for me, too.” His voice was quiet.
That didn’t shock me. I looked up. “Not since the Queen’s spell broke?”
“No. The night you allowed me to feed, the night you saved me was the closest I’ve been to anyone really.”
“Why me?” The question left me before I could stop myself. “God, that sounded terrible. I mean, there is no shortage of women or men who’d light themselves on fire to be with you. And you and I, we are…”
“Complicated?”
My gaze searched his face. “That would be one word I’d use.”
“I don’t know, Brighton. I didn’t think this would happen, and I don’t think you came here expecting this.”
I laughed. “Yeah, no.”
The half-smile returned. “Those people you say would light themselves on fire to be with me? Most of them would because of who I am. The King.” His brows lowered as his hand stilled on my hip. “I didn’t—”
Although he didn’t finish, I thought I knew what he was going to say. “You didn’t want to be King.”
His eyes met mine, and there was something in them.
A brief flash of emotion that traveled across his face but was gone before I could figure out what it was.
“No, I didn’t. It was one of the reasons I hadn’t fed.
When I did that, it put this into motion, and when I used the King’s sword, that was it. That was when I ascended.”