Thirty-three #2
As her mind whirled with these thoughts, her mouth moved with reckless abandon, kissing Nieve’s jaw, her neck, her collarbone, every inch of her skin a map she had yet to trace.
She breathed in her frozen forest scent and grazed her teeth down the curve of her neck, Nieve’s answering shudder sending a thrill rippling deep in her belly.
There would never be enough.
‘I can’t stay…’ Nieve whispered between heavy breaths, the way her arms wound round Ariadnne’s lower back belying the weight of her words. ‘Sascha made it explicitly clear that I’m not to stay.’ She drew back.
‘Do you think I care what anyone thinks?’
Nieve’s lip twitched, and Ariadnne took her hand, pulling her closer.
‘If this is true, who knows how long we have.’ She searched Nieve’s beautiful face, marvelling at the perfection of each feature; the tiny dimple at the side of her mouth; each perfectly placed freckle.
She wasn’t going to let her go. Not tonight.
Ariadnne felt the moment Nieve’s restraint melted away; she moulded into her arms, her body soft and pliable as her mouth welcomed Ariadnne’s.
The kiss of someone to whom she would give everything.
There was no gentle exploring this time—only a clash of desperate need.
Nieve’s hands swept along the silk of Ariadnne’s nightgown with a lick of icy flame, shivers of pleasure rippling through Ariadnne’s body quickly chased by a wave of sorrow so great it threatened to choke her.
Ariadnne couldn’t face the idea of not having this.
Of not having the chance to learn Nieve in all her forms.
Her nightgown was the barest slip of silk between them, skin prickling as Nieve’s fingers traced a pattern down her side.
With a gasp, she arched, and Nieve was against her, kissing her neck, her jaw.
She closed her eyes as the hot honey of Nieve’s tongue caressed the skin by her ear.
A soft moan escaped her lips, the sharp pang of desire almost painful as she ran a hand down Nieve’s back, tracing each bump and divot of her spine.
‘I will find a way to keep you.’ Ariadnne pressed her face into Nieve’s hair. ‘One way or another, this is not an ending for us. I won’t let it be.’
‘Well, I am one of those thorns that’s hard to be rid of—' Nieve’s voice tickled her neck until she broke away, sadness flickering in her eyes.
Visibly fighting it, her brow arched in the playful way Ariadnne was learning to love.
Slowly, so slowly, Nieve slid backwards, edging up the bed without releasing Ariadnne from her cerulean gaze, daring her to follow.
Deep in her belly Ariadnne’s dragon uncoiled and rumbled, responding to the challenge in Nieve’s eyes.
Her lips parted as Nieve reached the pillows—she was made to lie in her bed. To recline beside her every night for the rest of their lives. She swallowed the bitterness that followed that thought.
Nieve tilted her head, reading the emotion flickering through Ariadnne’s soul.
‘Stop thinking, beautiful dragon.’ She patted the pillow next to her. ‘Come here instead.’
Ariadnne obliged.
She climbed up the bed and lay her head on the pillow, holding Nieve’s gaze, devouring every fleck of colour in her eyes.
They were not just blue; they were every shade of the ocean and sky in all their tempers.
They were the delicate shell of a jay’s egg and the azure of a morning glory’s petals.
Nieve’s scent drove her to distraction, her dragon’s incessant rumble thrumming through her body, making it hard to think.
She reached out and slid a hand under the edge of Nieve’s shirt, tracing her hip with her fingers, groaning at the silken promise of her skin; Nieve’s body was cut from living clay—impossibly cool yet soft and pliable.
She longed to feel it against hers—an unforgivable sin that she was still dressed.
Ariadnne tilted her head to graze her lips against Nieve’s.
‘Off,’ she breathed around the kiss and tugged at Nieve’s shirt. Nieve pulled away, and the air between them heated under her gaze. Obediently, yet tauntingly slow, she sat and pulled the shirt over her head.
Ariadnne’s breath caught as the shirt fluttered to the floor. Every line of Nieve’s body was perfect. From the curve of her neck meeting her shoulder, to the swell of her breasts that heaved with each breath.
She couldn’t rip her eyes from that body, even as Nieve laughed and cupped the back of her neck.
Every part of her became need. Gods, she felt so good.
Softness merged with cut muscle and round edges.
Ariadnne traced her hands down the lines of Nieve’s shoulders, her back, her waist, marvelling at the way Nieve’s skin pebbled in her wake, her mate stifling a gasp as she continued lower, following the indents of her abdomen as they disappeared into her waistband.
That small sound set Ariadnne on fire, an ache mounting to a throbbing need that begged for attention.
‘I want you.’ Nieve’s body arched.
‘Did I hear a ‘please’.’
‘Please…’ Nieve groaned.
‘As if I’d ever refuse you…’
Ariadnne growled, her dragon filling her with possessive pride, and leant to kiss her deeply, losing herself in the soft, satin warmth of Nieve’s mouth as she pushed her into the surrounding pillows.
Nieve’s body writhed, and with a lingering glance at Nieve’s parted lips—pink from their kiss—Ariadnne dipped to trace her tongue along the swell of her breast, taking the aroused peak in her mouth, the feel of the hard bud making her ache with painful sweetness.
She wanted to bring Nieve to the brink, to discover every possible way to make her climax.
She ran a hand down Nieve’s waist as she sank lower, teasing every bump of her ribs with her tongue.
The small sounds slipping from Nieve’s throat fuelled her onwards, and her mouth found its way down—tracing a path along the smooth lines of her abdomen until she reached the barrier of Nieve’s waistband. She tugged it with her teeth.
‘Why are these still on?’ she breathed over the sensitive skin below Nieve’s navel and was rewarded by a light dusting of goosebumps over snowy skin.
Nieve moaned, wordless for once as she arched her hips, the movement filling Ariadnne with the need for more.
Ariadnne kissed and nipped as her fingers worked at the buttons, impatient, then triumphant as the last one gave in to her desperate fumble. Her core ached as Nieve pressed upwards again, demanding her touch.
‘And these…’ Nieve pulled Ariadnne’s hand to her underwear as she tugged at the trousers, but Ariadnne paused and ran her hand over the lacy fabric—winning another gasp.
‘Gods—’ Nieve panted. ‘Ariadnne…’
Her name on Nieve’s lips sent a thrill coursing through her, and she finally ripped the trousers free. With a playful smile Nieve tried to sit, reaching for Ariadnne’s nightgown. But Ariadnne pushed her back, lacing their fingers to keep Nieve’s hands still.
‘Not yet,’ she breathed.
She would never get enough of this; the feel of Nieve between her thighs, desperate for her.
‘Ari, please—’ Nieve inhaled as Ariadnne slid back down her body. She ran her teeth across the ridge of her hip, pinning Nieve’s hands in place with her own. She went lower.
Only to be struck by anxiety. She was suddenly, painfully aware that she had limited experience.
A flutter of panic, and then Nieve was there, feeling her fears through the bond and pulling her up, kissing her even as she took Ariadnne’s hand and guided it between her legs. Reassuring her with soft murmurs.
Ariadnne’s breath caught as she felt the arousal waiting for her. A raw, sensual noise escaped Nieve’s lips, Ariadnne’s fingers brushing her most intimate parts, gaining confidence as she felt Nieve’s reaction to her touch. Nieve’s hips bucked, and Ariadnne smiled, accepting the invitation.
Her name on Nieve’s lips was a bell as Ariadnne slipped inside, filling her, gasping herself at the exquisite rightness of it. She revelled in the way Nieve moved with her like her body was made for her, the way it arched beneath her hand, the way she felt—
With a glance, Ariadnne caught Nieve’s eye and pulled back to watch her, stretching and savouring the moment even as Nieve moaned for her to move faster.
To not stop. Teasing, Ariadnne soaked up every line of her face, watching with reverence as Nieve’s eyes widened, her body responding to all that Ariadnne gave her.
The world around them blurred at the edges as they came close to unravelling.
Feeling Nieve shudder, Ariadnne started to move with rhythm again, letting the pleasure mount and losing herself in the sheer blazing heat of it until a gasp ripped from her own lips.
A burst of pure ecstasy ripped through the bond, causing Ariadnne to unravel, falling apart, the world disintegrating into fragments of light and stars as they rode the wave of pleasure until it crashed around them.